The Let's Play Archive

White Knight Chronicles I & II

by nine-gear crow

Part 43: The Not-So-Great Deku Tree (Part 2)


CUTSCENE: The Retrospecticon

We come out of the title sequence to find everyone gathered around Father Yggdra for some more exposition.

Father Yggdra: Well done, Young Lorias. You have risen up and defended Faria most admirably from the Yshrenian invaders.


The game does an absolutely terrible job of explaining just that’s up with Yggdra, so I’ll sum it up here before we move on. Father Yggdra was a very powerful wizard back in the Dogma Era. He was a Farian, or at the very least a member of the species that founded the Archduchy of Faria. He was also, as noted in the first chapter of the game, a close ally of Queen Mureas. He turns up in person in that prequel manga I mentioned earlier, but here all we’re going to be hearing of him is his voice.

And that’s really odd, because there’s an official artbook out there that has drawings of what his original form looked like. It’s the one I use for his character profile entry and his avatar. I think Yggdra was meant to appear in person at one point, but was cut for time/budgetry/workability issues. Regardless, in his physical incarnation he was a diminutive, wizened old Yoda-like being with a MASSIVE set of antlers and a big Fu Manchu beard/moustache.

Anyways, after things went to shit in the Dogma Era and Mureas died, Yggdra forsook his physical body and bound his soul to the massive tree that sat in the lake in the middle of what is now the Farian capital city. With his being now bonded to the mighty tree, Yggdra survived the millennia, becoming a spiritual leader to the Farian people and guide to all the Archdukes and Archduchesses to have taken up his stead as ruler.

Somewhere along that timeline he also became the guardian of the Moon Maiden armour after Mureas’s sealing spell rendered it inoperable. The armour was placed inside his trunk somehow and remained hidden away, lost to history for the next 10,000-odd years until Yshrenia came that close to claiming it just now.

Because none of that is getting explained in-game beyond a passing gloss.


Father Yggdra: Poor pitiful Nanazel… shall be missed.

One more thing to note [mouseover to break LP kayfabe]: You’ll see it if you watch the videos, but the Avatar is in fact in this scene doing nothing and saying nothing as usual. They’re standing off to the right behind Leonard’s shoulder. I merely edited the Marcell model out of this scene with Photoshop to maintain the illusion of him actually dying.

Just so you know.

Also, it’s not in the screen caps, but when Yggdra says Nanazel will be missed, Miu has a brief downcast side glance like she’s thinking “not bloody likely.” And after the shit she’s been through the two days at Nanazel’s hands, I don’t blame her if that’s what that look really is meant to convey.


Father Yggdra: He loved Faria in his own way… though sometimes love can sometimes do grievous harm.


Lorias: You honour me, Father. Though it was not my efforts alone that saved Faria. Others came to our aid.
Father Yggdra: Hmm.


Scardigne: Father Yggdra, these emissaries have traveled all the way from Balandor to see you.


Father Yggdra: Indeed? And what is your name?


Leonard: It’s Leonard, sir.


Leonard: Queen Cisna said you could help us.


CUTSCENE MUSIC: “Recollection” (Disc 1, Track 14)

Father Yggdra: Ah, you mean Queen Mureas’ reincarnation. Why I remember Her Grace so clearly. Ha ha hah.
Father Yggdra: …She slaughtered billions.



Father Yggdra: You have my deepest gratitude, Leonard, White Warrior, for coming to Faria in her time of need.


Father Yggdra: But a single victory will not stem the coming tide. Yshrenia will conquer the world unless we intervene, and a great darkness will cast its shadow over all that we know.
Eldore: Urrh.

Insert Cisna the Hun jokes here.


Father Yggdra: The world’s greatest nations stand leaderless, and cannot hold their own against the Empire.

What the hell are you talking about? Cisna is running Balandor perfectly fine, and Caesar is running Greede quite admirably from all accounts, and well, Lorias seems to have shit together in Faria now that Nanazel’s toast, unless Miu wants to step up to the plate or anything.

What I’m trying to say is that Father Yggdra has his knotty head up his own wooden ass.


Father Yggdra: Our beloved Faria is no exception, isn’t that right, Lorias?


Lorias: Yes.


Lorias: It shames me to think how far we have fallen.

Miu sighs and gets all antsy because she knows he’s inadvertently talking shit about her and how she needs to woman up and start running this damn place already.


Father Yggdra: Now then, for our guest from Balandor, I would like to present a gift.
Leonard: Cookies?!
Father Yggdra: …What?
Leonard: It’s cookies, right?
Father Yggdra: Wait… Is he some kind of—
Everyone: Idiot? Yep.
Father Yggdra: Oh gods, here we go…


Yggdra PEWs a book out of the ether.


Father Yggdra: The Winds of Winter, by George RR Martin. The only copy that will ever exist… It’s unfinished, but whatever.


Eldore: A book?
Father Yggdra: This is the “Retrospecticon.”

I love how he’s so underwhelmed by the fact that a 10,000 year old talking tree conjured this thing out of thin air specifically for him. Usually Eldore’s not the kind of guy to look a gift horse in the mouth, but then again the writing in this game has been the antithesis of consistent from the word go.


Father Yggdra: This tome allows you to step into the events of the past. I have faith that it will lead you down the right path.

We’re now going to spend a third of the game going back and revisiting shit from the first game, because it’s cheaper and easier to reuse assets you already made wholecloth than come up with anything new or innovative.

The time travel subplot in this game is such infuriating bullshit because the two things you’d expect a group with a history like this one to do (a) go back and try to amend some of their fuck ups or b) actually visit the Dogma Era) don’t happen.

Again, it’s another story concept that’s just plopped down without any introduction or spectacular payoff. Instead of Back to the Future, we’re getting the 2002 Time Machine movie.


Leonard: How does it work?
Father Yggdra: The book will guide you. It will take you to Dalam.
Leonard: Uuuh, didn’t answer my question there, sir.

“Fuck you, it just does,” is the answer that’s left unspoken, BTW.


Miu: My grandfather?


Father Yggdra: Go with them, Little Miu. This is your journey too.


She gasps in surprise.


Miu: Yes, Father.
Father Yggdra: I mean, SOMEONE in this game needs to get some character development, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be this idiot.
Leonard: Hey!


Lorias: Take good care of her.


Yulie: We will.


Eldore: Let’s head into town and make ready.
Miu: Come see me when you are prepared to leave.





CUTSCENE: Something Stirs

Miu: Father Yggdra said this was my journey, but I feel so unprepared.


Yulie: Getting cold feet?


Yulie: Don’t worry, we’ll be right there beside you.


Leonard: UUUGH!!

Then the game suddenly activates the Photoshop zoom blur effect and we get another BDOOM stab chord to let us know shit is still not right with Leonard, and no, surprisingly, the sequel has not forgotten about his little fainting spell from the end of the first game.


And he goes down.


But luckily Eldore is there to catch him. Get used to this image, folks. You’re going to be seeing a whole shit-ton of “Leonard weakly slumped in the arms of another character” shots in this game.

Because you should never EVER forget that Leonard is a useless fuck up of a character who’s struggling to remain an actual character at this point.


Leonard: Why does my mouth taste like red?
Eldore: Oh for gods’s sakes.


Eldore: You alright?


Leonard: Yeah. Musta overdid it back there.




Eldore: You’re clearly lying, but it’s in my character to ignore problems that put others’ safety at risk, so I will pretend this never happened and not mention it to anyone else.


Eldore: You need to slow down.


Leonard: Right…


"CUTSCENE MUSIC": Just play this while you read this last part, it helps sell it a little better.

So now where does this leave us?


Nanazel is dead, and Shapur has retreated. Faria is safe, for now…


But Yshrenia is still out there, still conquering other parts of the world…


And we’re down yet another party member…


Poor Marcell, the kid just didn’t see it coming…


And now Leonard’s starting to act strange…


And the White Knight doesn’t seem like it’s going to be the reliable weapon it used to be…


…In theory, I mean. Hell, we’ve all seen how “reliable” it was in Leonard’s hands before these little hiccups started happening.


Things seem rather bleak…


But maybe there’s an answer in the past…


We need to find Dalam…


We need to save him…


But with Leonard’s stupidity now fully unchecked…


What damage will the boy unleash upon the past?


There is someone who can stop him, however…


Someone who knows how to control him…


Someone who thought he was rid the boy for good…















The unsung legend…


















The true hero of Nadias…


















The one who will actually save us all…






















What? You thought I was gone for good? Who the fuck do you think is telling this story, remember?


TO BE CONTINUED






Here’s what I had to do to poor Marcell to edit him out of all those screenshots effectively, by the way:



He’s so tiny he makes Papitaurs seem tall.