Part 19: If You Thought the Ship City Was Excessive...

Part 19: If You Thought the Ship City Was Excessive...


After the big battle, when we return to the engine core, we can see the priestesses all lined up at their stations (or what's left of them).


Like most folks, though, they don't have anything too interesting to say.


Wait a second. Why is that line voiced?


Meet Palma. In addition to being a priestess whose order is vaguely based on Shinto edicts, she's taken cleanliness to an obsessive degree (the correct answer to this question is "three or more times each day"). Apparently it all has to do with the time Wyna pushed her into a mud puddle while the guy she had a crush on was watching. Anyway, she sees nothing wrong with it and there isn't a single psychologist to be found in the world, so there's nothing to be done but shrug and go along with it.




Unsurprisingly, her minigame also happens to be about cleaining.


The goal is to clean five warehouses in 50 seconds while only touching each square once, with barrels and crates acting as obstacles. There can be any number of ways to pull this off, and once you're familiar with the patterns 50 seconds is much more than enough to clean all five.


For instance, my current record is five rooms and 8 left on the clock. There's nothing above an A grade, though.

Palma's turn ons include excessive cleanliness, cheesy romance, and respecting the gods.


Also, while you can get Print Club pictures at any time with main characters, town girls can only do this on a date.


Being a town girl, Palma has less to offer than girls in the main party. Nothing is given at level 1 intimacy, and level 2 gets you the first level water spell.


Level 3 gets Sodina her second special attack, tying her with Muza at 2 each. Level 4 grants the Fear spell, which I didn't manage to capture, and 5 (which Meis can access now, just so you know) also has nothing to offer.


This next bit is technically out of sequence, but I figure I should handle it first. At an item shop, I found a supply of Teleportum, which as you can see is how you get back to old areas fast. I used one to return to Boyzby and get finding Smoochy out of the way.


Surprisingly, it seems they've managed to do a damn fine job of rebuilding since we've been gone. There's even a new Print Club booth.


So you knew I just had to use it.


As for Smoochy, it seems that he's taken up residence in the building just across from the bar on the western end of town. All of Smoochy's lines are voiced, but I think I'll do everyone a favor and refrain from making a video of it.


Here's the upshot: Smoochy here counts the number of kisses Meis gets and offers rewards for certain numbers.


You can even get a list of kisses per girl. Note that getting a Q&A session and not requesting the kiss does not, in fact, count towards these numbers.


Right here is how you trade in kisses for rewards. Some of the cheaper items include the best elixir and potion in the game, but most of the middle stuff is just gifts. Hard Armor and Lord Armor are just about the best accessories in the game, but I'll have to save up a lot more kisses if I want to get them. I can also find them in other places, but only very late into the game.


I also took the opportunity to bring Sodina up to level 5, where she grants another shot at Cure and the second level Barrier spell.


Anyway, enough sidetracking. Somehow the Langoud managed to limp over to the beach below, which as the map indicates is on the big, oval area of the continent. Also, while you might think there's a way up past those mountains that connect this area to Boyzby, the two regions are completely cut off. But perhaps we should have a look at those train tracks that appear to be on-scale with Meis for once.


...Or not.

The Gadget Master that we're looking for is here? In the middle of nowhere?
My old man said the self-restoration systems of the Langoud aren't enough to repair the damage...
But man, who built this huge wall?
It's more like, what's this thing doing here?


Suddenly, Meis hears something.


Something off in the far distance.

Something that HOLY SHIT THAT'S A HUGE TRAIN.


Our next goal is, naturally, to get on that train. Luckily, there happens to be a train station just across the rails from where we are (best not to ask how the party manages to climb up a sheer 30 foot wall).


But first, one last word about the new region enemies. The Nomadic Master here isn't anything special from what I've seen.


And then there's the Genie, who seems to favor casting spells exclusively. And looking at the design, I'd say someone in Japan was watching too much Aladdin.


All of the train stations look alike, so it becomes important to ask the conductors which station you've reached. It is also part of the hotel's name, which helps.


Just inside the station is an item kiosk, also helpful.



You will learn to hate it when Mounthand is announced. Each time it arrives, it takes a 23-second unskippable cutscene to stop and dock with the station. Each and every time.


Back when I first played this game, the Mounthand really threw me for a loop. I thought this area here was just a random stop somewhere, and my goal was someplace unannounced along the train route.


There are a lot of places to search, and I did quite a bit of wandering before I thought to simply board the train again and check what was beyond that door to the upper right.



The answer? An entire town built along one section of the train itself. I've played plenty of JRPG's, but this is the only one I've seen where the mobile towns outclass the static ones.



In other news, the MP drops have leveled up again, like these two in the inn. The range appears to be 30-60 now.


I should add that, unsurprisingly, Mounthand happens to be the most steampunk and Western flavored town in the game.


There's not much you can say to a steam-powered tavern piano.


Right here we have a bit of an easter egg: clicking on that record player makes some Japanese rap start playing. It's only a few seconds long, though, so I didn't bother making a recording for it.


More general foreshadowing.



More general MP pickups.


And here's where I found that supply of Teleportum. I also took the time to sell off my excess Thief Rings, which fetched quite the price.


At about this point, I decided to up Wyna's Intimacy, which got me her first special attack.



When we start asking around among the populace, we start to hear two main themes: first, while there are a ton of Gadget Masters in the town, no one seems to think they're qualified to handle the Langoud, thanks to that magitech engine.



The second is that there's some crazy chick named Marion somewhere around town who might just be crazy enough to help.



Boy: and make them transform and combine into a totally cool robot.

And on that note, we end for today.

Next time: The moment you've all been dreading.