Part 37: Long-Awaited Exposition

Part 37: Long-Awaited Exposition


As it turns out, behind the fancy gold door is another door, along with a mysterious voice.


Meis and Sodina start searching around for where the voice is coming from.


Turns out she was above them.



*Muza Freezes Up sound effect*

Man, he froze up on us again...


Quite expressive, isn't she? When other girls are introduced, they usually show 3-5 expressions. See if you can guess how many our mystery woman will display.

I'm sorry, we didn't mean to barge in without permission. We came looking for the Sacred Altar. Don't worry, we're not thieves.
Sacred Altar?
Yes. My name is Meis, and I'm the last apprentice of Jyabil, the great Spirit Blacksmith.


No, he was killed by the Empire...
Is that so...
You know Jyabil? Who are you?


I have been hiding in this library, because I feared the Empire would abuse my power. Jyabil felt that there are still those who can coexist with the Spirit. So he left in search of them.


I wonder if they're one and the same.

Hang on a second. Meis just said that the Empire killed Jyabil. Even before that, Soushi noted that the Dark Acolyte ship, the Cloud Manta, had the Dianova Empire symbol on it. How the hell is he just now getting this?


Pull up your chairs, kiddies, it's backstory time!

Eons ago, the Master divided a flame from the heavens, the Primordial Flame, between the people of two lands.


And goddamn did they hate each other. I mean, just give them a little fire and bam, weapons out, time for killing.

The Sacred Altars were built by the Clan of the Light to protect their Primordial Flame.


That's the story and we're sticking to it.

The Emperor of Dianova is the last surviving descendant of the Clan of Darkness. The Emperor seeks the Holy Flame of the Light to rule the world. In order to do so, he's even become a machine. I assume that he's plotting to rule the world by using 5 Flames of the Light.




Apparently the Emperor likes to have a little fun now and again, too, since this act is completely pointless. In related news, the question, "What do you do with a giant sword-shaped ship?" is answered with, "You fucking stab a floating island in half with it!" Hope you got everything you needed from Sharan before you entered the gold door!


You may remember Bearing as the lieutenant who almost got exploded when he was impertinent in front of the Emperor. He might not be as outright psychotic as Wire was, but he's definitely the most Machinist of the lieutenants.


He's also talking with an absolutely fabulous Shaft.






Exhausted by all the exposition she delivered, Metalia decides to end the plot advancement for the time being.


By "upstairs," Metalia means that I have to go up several stories of library before I reach the rooms. There are several Elemental Spirits to be picked up by clicking on all the books, plus there are these:


Yep, supplemental exposition. I think I'll do everyone a favor and summarize what Metalia didn't go over herself:

The Emperor and other survivors fled from the Clan of Darkness land to this planet, which is apparently the planet of Light. While the others decided to assimilate, the Emperor figured he wasn't done being totally evil.

Elemental Beasts (the summons) are powered up Elemental Spirits, and the ones attached to the Sacred Altars are even better versions of those. Also, magic is fading for who knows what reason.

X Masters (where X is Ship, Dress, Jewel, etc.) can put spirits into their particular kind of object, but Spirit Blacksmiths are some kind of super awesome version who can imbue damn near anything, including tools for the other Masters to use.


Ah, looks like we're finally here.

Night night, everybody!


Wait, what's so funny? Why are they laughing at the boys?


Oh well. Pop quiz, hotshot!


Feel free to search the last few updates. I'll wait for you to get back.


(Man, that was a lucky guess.)


Anyway, Meis tries to go to bed, but he decides to go for a bit of a walk instead. It seems he's not the only one who can't sleep, either.

I was wondering...What motivates the Emperor. Metalia was saying that he is out to rule the world, but I'm not so sure. If he wants to rule the world, he could do it with the forces at his disposal. I feel his real plan is something far more sinister...

Maybe he wants to go to the moon and ascend to godhood.
I said sinister, not stupid.


One of the rare times I decided to go with the straight response.

Yes, the 5 Holy Flames of the Light. What kind of power do they hold? I think you and I make a good team. Of course, it's a completely different story when it comes to girls.

Not that this game can keep a straight face for very long.


As he's passing the next door, Meis hears something very interesting.


It's girls! And they're talking about him!

How does Nelsha feel about Meis? Of course Nelsha likes him!


Please, Kyleen. Don't ask me such a silly question. What about you then?
What? Me? OK, OK! I'll tell you. I like Soushi because he's sorta attractive with his weird quirks. Muza is a wild guy, but I think I can turn to him when I'm in trouble. And Meis...He is so fun to be with. I can forget everything when I'm with him.
Nelsha likes them all!
I guess I like them all, too! This may sound a little corny, but I'm glad to have met you guys. I really am...By the way, what do you what to do when all this is over?


Then, Nelsha will join the best brand-name designers in the world. Her new brand will be called...[no name is given here]


What about me?
How do you feel about Meis?


You know it can't end well, but you feel compelled to do it anyway.

Well, I...


Suddenly, the doors burst open (to basically no one's surprise)!


Meis does a little walking in place to support his claim.


Of course, since Kyleen is a little rascal, it turns out to be unnecessary.

What? Oh, uhhh...Well, tomorrow, we're going to the last Sacred Altar. So, let's kick butt, Meis. Well, it's getting late. We should all go to sleep now. Good night, Meis.


The door slams shut in Meis' face, the encounter with the girls over.

You know, now that I think about it, where's Wyna? She wasn't in the room.


Well, we can keep going past the girls' room up to this rather poorly designed staircase.


For instance, these two staircases connect to each other at the upper right and lower left corners. This area is completely pointless and I have no idea why it exists. There aren't even any random encounters here at any point in the game.



Once Meis reaches the top, though, he sees something startling.


It's Muza and Wyna! He's finally gotten her alone, and in a romantic spot to boot!


Muza's making his move!


And fucking it up!

Huh? Oh, uhhh, the moon. Yes, the moon is beautiful, isn't it?
(?) Yeah, it's very beautiful...


Well...actually it's not the moon I was talking about. I, Wyna, I like...

You can do it, Muza! We believe in you!

...to talk about our past.



Our past?



For her part, Wyna isn't helping with her whole "thinks he's just sort of weird" bit. She wouldn't know a signal if it were delivered in semaphore.

Like that time when the Langoud broke, and we met Marion. She was weird...And, I heard a rumor about the Ghost town where the Damashi live. But, I never thought it really existed. We couldn't have made it this far if we didn't work together. We've come a long way.


You know, when you froze up...Yeah, you know, on the road to Hatoba...What happened to you?

Do it, Muza! Beating her in a fight is the only way to impress her!


That's not beating her in a fight, Muza!

I was...uhhhh...You know...You...were...uhhh...
I was what?
Oh...N, nothing...I wonder how your dad's doing...


I'm getting sleepy...See ya in the morning.


Intimacy Level changed to .


But wait! He's not down for the count just yet, folks!

There's something I want to tell you...when the battle is over.



Note how Wyna is neither startled nor surprised to see Meis was watching them.


Muza, on the other hand...

M...M...Meis! You were here? You didn't hear anything, did you?

Every word. My condolences, bro.
Shit...




With everyone's touching moment witnessed, it's time to hit the hay.


Disc 2 is to Thousand Arms what disc 4 is to the PS1 Final Fantasies. That's why

Next time: the Empire strikes back.