Part 28: The Power of Money (Apparently)

Part 28: The Power of Money (Apparently)


Today's update starts with a thump (and a video).

No, I'm not OK. Untie me, already!

*Zipper sound effects (?!)*


Why would you even think about trading money for a person? Why did you do this for me?


I don't know what you have in mind, but your sweet talk doesn't convince me!


Well...alright. I guess I was wrong about you.




What, by dropping you down that trap door into an oubliette? Man, that's freaking harsh!

So I can get outta here easily. You're gonna pay for this, Lavantis!



Kyleen is now officially our sixth party member, and as her level confirms, we're still over-leveled for this part of the game. Also note the missing GG up there.


Kyleen's build includes decent Elemental Power (seems standard for female characters), poor Offense and Critical rate, but tremendous Speed, Evasion, Defense, and Multi-Attack. That's how it is compared to Soushi, at least, since it's hard to tell when everyone else is above level 30.


Here's the door, in case you were curious.


And this is the dungeon: a series of raised walkways in a stone cavern. The monsters here are the exact same set as in the mansion above, so I won't go over them again.


I'm not sure if I needed to open every treasure chest or just the one I'm at in this image, but after I used it the drawbridge lowered, allowing us to leave the area.


I also got a ton of stuff. Holy Books raise party Defense, plus I got a pair of G-Potions, which heal everyone by a significant amount.


Once you find the exit, the camera shifts to this wide shot of the mansion.


It then zooms in to this statue, which moves aside so Meis can leave the secret staircase.


It may be terribly expensive and cost most of my current GG, but getting the full restore before the boss fight is definitely worth the price.

Speaking of...


When good people work together, they can overcome any challenge!
Hey, you tell him, Muza!


What's the matter? You don't understand what I'm saying? You are so foolish!


Okay, that's a little disturbing.




It's also the signal to start the boss fight. As you might figure from his posture, his regular attack is to simply punch you in the face.


However, he is not afraid to use his chest cannon and machine guns.


Especially when he's down to critical health. Once you get him down that far, he uses the chest cannon without mixing any sort of regular attack into it, which is hell on the backline. Sodina wound up dead right at the moment Lavantis fell, which was kind of unfortunate for her XP.

I'd also like to take a moment to point out that, while other games and anime have used the chest cannon idea, I believe this may be the only one to literally answer "why?" with "Because I'm goddamned rich!"


We also grabbed a Blunt Sword out of the deal. I'll show you where to stick it in a little bit.


Oh, and here's our pass to get out of this damn town.

You guys need money, right? So, don't start arguing with me again!
Kyleen...



You didn't think a JRPG would have you give away all your money for nothing, did you?

You guys are doing some pretty cool things! Come on, let me join you!


Ah, take it easy! It's fun to have lots of people around. Besides, you know your way around here, right?
That's right! Kyleen, have you heard of a Sacred Altar in this area?
I think...there's supposed to be one in the middle of the Jayarl Plateau.


You can use the cable car to get back down. Lavantis is gone now, so there shouldn't be any problem in using it.


There's also no problem in doing a little bit more exploring. For instance, this spiral staircase which is oddly suspended in midair.


Upstairs is apparently where Kyleen used to sleep, as you can note from the bigger, fancier stuffed bunny on the head table.



Ha ha, whoops. You'd think increasing Intimacy like that would be good, but starting her at 3 means missing out on the spells that are on levels 1 and 2. Now I have to go do a bunch of terrible dates to make her Intimacy drop back down. And in spite of what you'd expect, lowering Intimacy is much longer and harder to manage than raising it.



Merchant: But it'll probably end up bringing her bad memories...

FYI, don't listen to him. Standing by this fountain in front of her old home is actually Kyleen's favored dating spot.


With Lavantis defeated permanently, all the merchants and the inn have dropped their prices back to sane levels.


At level 3 Intimacy, Kyleen gives another shot at Heal + and Evade, which is self explanatory.


Getting bad dates is fairly easy since there are always some options with obviously bad answers. However, you need to go through a lot of dates to drop Intimacy, partly because screwing up bad enough ends the date early, sometimes after the second question. As such, there's really nothing that interesting about them aside from the girl's potential reaction.


Kyleen's minigame is Blackjack, and I really want to know who thought that abbreviation was a good idea.


As for the game itself, it's exactly what you expect. The only interesting feature is that while you can only bet 10 coins normally, you can also bet all your winnings, doubling the bet for the next set. You only get 5 sets in total, and if you win each set and let it ride each time, you can get away with over 200 coins.

I should add that I got this E when I was still trying to fail. Blackjack is incredibly easy to cheese with save states, since each set is individually randomized.


As far as gifts go, Kyleen is pretty easy to buy for, since she loves anything with a rare metal in its name. Bad gifts, by the way, are the most efficient means of lowering Intimacy. None of the potential dates appreciates getting an umbrella or an adult magazine as a gift. I just wish I had some to speed this up.

And here's an example early date. I spent some time getting all three party girls up to 8, since Meis had just hit Charisma 8, but it seems that it's a fairly empty level, since none of them gave any new spells at that point. As for Kyleen, she gives (in order) Wind +, Fumble and her Special Attack Hypnos, Heal + and Evade (seen above), Speed, Cure + (fixes poison and paralysis and only costs double Cure), Speed +, and Heal All. Heal All is a particularly awesome spell to get, since it heals the entire party by more than Heal + can.


That's enough of that for now. Time to finally go back down to the surface. But first!


*EMPEROR ALERT*



Ratchet continues to waggle her ass for Schmidt.


She also gets mad when Shaft steals his thunder.

Wire. We must crush the Clan of the Light. Even a tiny flame can grow if left untended.


Wire is a creepy motherfucker, and that's all there is to say on the matter. You'll see what I mean soon enough, but listening to his laugh here is a good preview.

Complete Death Crimson as soon as possible. We will let the entire world know the power of the Empire.




Back on the surface, the party is ambushed by a surprising figure.

There you are! I looked all over for you guys!


What's up, Marion?
Mounthand's been taken over by a bunch of weirdos! Their leader freaked me out! He's like a total psycho, you know!



We can't get to the Sacred Altar without Mounthand!
Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's crush those guys!
Hey, I've heard of the Sacred Altar thingie. So we just need Mounthand, don't we?



It would seem that Sharan connects directly to the Mounthand circuit, which helps to explain how Marion found us so easily. It also makes sense to be connected, what with being merchant-heavy and all.

Next time: Revenge of the Mounthand Dungeon.