Part 3: The Dream World

Update 3 - The Dream World





Last we left off, we had the Overseer's song for this area thanks to our ghostbusting techniques! _{Which may or may not have just been us playing Simon Says with the ghosts.}

Before we follow after the mayor, we can harass talk to Ruby some more.


That girl could stand to learn some manners. And you too. I'm an old woman now. Coming in demanding me sing songs for you... Where's respect for your elders, hmm?


I'm sure there's plenty of elderly people who would love the opprotunity of some stranger walking into their home and singing songs with them!

That's all Ruby has to say, so let's head back towards the village.



MUSIC: Langtree





Francine has more things to say!


When I was a little girl, Ruby would sing at the Tree of Slumber. It was supposedly a ritual to commune with the Overseer... But he never did speak to us.


Aw man, not only are the gods still around but they're Greek gods. Now we have to watch ourselves, lest we be turned into a goat for shits and giggles.


I know Ruby can be a little harsh at times. But her heart is good... just old, and tested.


Yeah, she doesn't seem that bad. She's lost her husband and is at the end of her life. Everyone's allowed to be, at least, a little bit cranky.









Ok! Let's go talk to the mayor and head towards the tree!







Uh oh... The ghosts are back and they've ganged up on us!



MUSIC: It's a Ghost









Their method of attack is... the same thing as before. This time though, there's no pulse or color to let us know so we are dependant on following their animation.

This fight is again, the same thing three times. The only difference being on the last round, their pattern changes each time they do it and they speed up! It's still not challenging however, but it is a bit more satisying when you get it right.







Having defeated the gaggle of ghosts, they once again exclaim something in a colorful language. I can only hope it said nothing negative about my mother.





Afterwards, they vanish yet again.





Now we can see what the mayor wants to talk about. Nobody else has anything new to say, so let's head straight towards her.









"Yeah" we went there earlier to wake up Mask. We can make it there with no problem!


Go there and sing the song! I'll stay here and make sure my folks are safe. _{What good I am without singin I dunno, but...}


If we talk to the mayor one more time before we leave though...





"Nope, just wanted to say hi!"


Well ain'tcha just a lil sweetheart.

...




Everyone likes being told hi!

Ok, that's it for Langtree for now. Time to head to the Tree of Slumber.





Hmm? Where'd Miriam go? We know what the Overseer song is now, but we can't find her and tell her that. Oh well, let's continue on.

There's nothing new on the path to the Tree.





Still though, we should always remember to sing!







Mask is gone from this area, so it really is just us here. To start the song, you hold down the mouse button and then...



VIDEO: Langtree Overseer Song





MUSIC: Mysterious Rainbow Girl





Woah, the rainbow girl was waiting for us here?




Welcome to the spirit world

I remember you!!! What are you doing here?

I delivered my message, so just drifting around your world... vicariously feeling Eya's unconditional love for all existence, stuff like that.

So... You're... real?

Uh, yeah? Pretty much yeah.

And the world is ending?

...Yeah

So how do we stop it?



Well the one thing that could stop it... Would be if someone sang the Earthsong.

That's it??? I can do that! How does it go?

Oh man it's like SO not that easy. The Earthsong has no melody, it carries the combined will of all life on this planet. It's a whole thing.

Well... how do I learn it?

Talk to the Overseer here... Big castle, can't miss it.

Like a quest!

Hehe yes

Good luck, lil bard.






So the world is truly ending... The game's timing is somewhat impecable thanks to recent real life events .

Let's make our way towards the big castle! As in every video game, we will make our way leftward!



MUSIC: Dreamscape











Ohhh, you head rightward, not leftward! Duh!

So falling in this game has a Zelda "punishment", you're just brought back to a safe location before you fell. Though it has even less of a punishment than Zelda, since there's no heart meter to chew up or even have to hear the annoying BEEP BEEP.





Lets... head right this time.







So there's the big castle, now we just need to find the door.





If we head a bit more to the right, we can see a ledge, but no way to get up there. Hmm, there is that weird white plant there. What about if we sing on it?





The plant grows in the direction we sing! We use the plant to get up to the ledge and check out that cave. I should mention this now, different levels of the game will have different color pallettes used for the colors. This doesn't just change how the Bard or the map looks, but will also change the color wheel of the songs. This can make things tricky when you have to rely on colors for a puzzle later on.





There's another one of those plants beneath the floor here, but if we sing up, it should still reach us.







You're not locked in on a single direction for these plants, you can go in any direction you like. But there is a certain limit that the plant will go before it stops. So it's best to get to your destination in as little curves as possible.











Here's something that's a bit annoying to deal with. There's a yellow fog over this area, and the only way to get rid of the fog surrounding you and see is to sing!





This makes it clearer to see but ends up being a bit annoying in that it sings the plants away, so you have to wait until they return.







Like so. It's not difficult, just annoying.









This plant seems to grow forever though! Well past what we needed to make it up to his cliff. We say our goodbyes to this mutant giant growing...singing... plant, and head into this new cave.





This puzzle has a new wrinkle in it. We have to make it reach down to us, and then let it go back up before we can climb to where we need to go.

















Ah, the bird is back! We just have to match the bird's song to be able to use it to jump up to that higher ledge.





And then once more...







And there we are! Out of this cave...





...and back into the dumb fog. It may be hard to see, but there's a bird right above us. While the bird becomes completely immersed in the fog, its notes can still be seen.







We grab the bird again, in case we need it for another puzzle before heading eastwards.





Sure enough, there was one more ledge we have to cross. Thanks to our smiling bird friend, we head up and through the cave.







This is new! We're over bottomless pits now and we need to guide our plant friend to the other side through the power of music!













While doing these puzzles, the Bard singing can match up with the notes in the background music and make it sound very harmonious! This game can look quite beautiful, but its music always seems to steal the show.







Back outside, means we're back in the fog.





As we reach the end of our path, if we sing the fog away, we can make out the outline of a plant on the other side. We have to stop singing to let the plant retract, and have to rely on audio cues since the fog becomes too heavy to see.











After we have made it to the other side, we reach another cave and find a ledge that we cannot reach. So we move out and try and find another plant.





Ah, found it just offscreen! But there's a problem, it only reaches a couple feet away! We can't use this to reach the ledge... so what do we do?





Heading all the way to the right, lets us find another bird! We quickly nab it and... wait. We use the bird by jumping, but we have to jump over that platform where the plant is to get past. So how are we going to get back?











Like that! I'm not a big fan of this area, the fog in particular is annoying to deal with, but that was a pretty clever puzzle without being too challenging. This game is dedicated to being chill and wholesome before ever wanting you to feel like it's too hard to continue. To its benefit, in my eyes.





We are past the clever puzzle and back out in the damn fog.





We eventually find ourselves stuck here. No platform to reach, no plant, and no bird. All is lost...





...Or I can fall down and find a bird here. The bird melody here needs to be memorized because you have to jump back up and do it again in the fog, without being able to see the bird's chime.





Once you do have it memorized, you just need to head back a little bit where the platform above us was closer to the ground.









Once we jump over that cliff, the fog finally leaves us and reveals -









The Big Castle! There's nothing on the other side of the castle, so let's head in!



MUSIC: Slumbering Beast











We arrive at what looks like a wall, but is actually the throne room steps.









Oh my gosh.









The Bard and I are on the same page.


Please tell me... YOU'RE the Overseer?!

The Overseer, meow is not!


...

I guess that's ok too... Well, is the Overseer around? I came a really long way to see them!

Purrrr... My master... The Dream King... is... taking a nap! And he can't see you til he's awake.

Oh. Uh Ok! How long are his naps usually?

Meusually a few years.


Welp! Hope you brought a thick book Bard!


What!!! I gotta wait a few YEARS??




That face is just adorable.


This last nap... has been going for centuries!





Please, can you wake him up?? I'm on a very important quest!!

Mmmmmmm! Meow understands, but... Mr. Dream King does NOOOOT like to be woken.

You gotta be.....!

...





SFX: Slidewhistle


Is there any game that can't be improved with a slidewhistle?


I can do it if you're too scared to!! I can sing REAL LOUD! That's like my thing!

That is not going to work!! Only the bell atop the castle could do it.



I should not have told you that!!! Do not ring the bell!!!

I'm totally going to!!!

ahhhhh noooooo




The fairy takes off towards the sky. If we head right or left, we can find steps to follow it.








DON'T DO THIS!

How are you going to STOP me??


Oh no... you said the magic boss fight words!!



MUSIC: The Beast of Dream Castle



VIDEO: The Dream King



(Note: Video covers the rest of the update)






hey stop that




We are now in an EPIC fight with the Dream Fairy. Whos is trying their best to smack our face. This feeble enemy's attack is nothing compared to the mighty strength of our bard!





We head into the next room, being attacked by the Dream Fairy the entire way. Each attack will slow us down, and sometimes stop us completely.





Even our dances aren't enough to outmanuever the creature.





We make it to the next area and begin our climb of the tower.










Nope!!!


Having reached the top, we have endured our first boss fight! We have triumphed over the Dream Fairy!


I don't see what the big deal is! This is like his job, right? I'll learn the song and then he can go back to sleep!

Mrrrrrrr... Meow can see there's no stopping you. But if you bring that determination with you... Mr. Dream King is sure to help you out!

...Meowbe.

Mr. Dream King really is a nice guy... Just ask him nicely!




With the Dream Fairy no longer an issue, we are now free to head towards the bell tower and see the Dream King for ourselves! Finally, we can get some answers about what's going on.









Ok, so just ring the bell, right? Well, there doesn't seem to be any kind of rope or tool to use... so I guess that leaves only one option.




Singing loud enough to move the bell and make it ring. MUCH easier than any other choice.




































Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. We may have made a huge mistake... you know, waking up a potentially dark god.




what



whaaaaaaaaat











MUSIC: The Dream King




yes

Faaaaaantastic

So

WHY

Am I awake

Uh...

The world is ending!!!

Oh.

Yeah!!! And so... I adventured into the spirit world... And solved a bunch of puzzles... And fought with a cat butterfly... So I could come meet you!!! I want you to teach me the Earthsong!

Ooooooookay....







Sorry about that, being awake is not my thing...


That's okay man, same here.


That's okay!! Are you really gonna teach me the Earthsong?

...

No.

The Earthsong channels the voice of all life on this planet, and if all that life isn't in perfect harmony... the song won't work. So... I'm kinda not seeing the point.

Uh?? So you... won't help...?

Meh.


You being a cat is pretty perfect right now Mr. Dream King.


But!!! What about... all the people on Earth...?

Yeah? What about... the rest of the universe? It's all going away... That's the natural order of things. You're asking me to bend the rules, just to save this tiny little piece...



I'm not really feeling up to it anyway.

...

Ok? Back to sleep now?

No, wait...! There's... ghosts haunting Langtree!

Oh! That sounds tough. Well...






Who knew a catgod would be such a DICK? Well, I guess that's not really a shock is it?