Part 6: Train Shootout

UPDATE 6: Back to the Present

VIDEO: Intro
Optional video, it's covered below too.

Like the original opening, at first we fly though the clouds, but this time in Sepia!

MUSIC: Flying in the Midst of the Storm










The train speeds though central Filgaia, on it's way to Mysterious Undisclosed Destination. (freedom)


Boone picks the lock of the secure car while Akifumi and Takao keep watch.

See Tony? This is called a lock pick. L-O-C-K P-I-C-K.


Tetuya and Shinji spy on Pearl as she sleeps. Creeps.


Meanwhile Billy is holding on underneath the train. It sure would be a shame if one of those scarves got caught in the wheels and...


Oh. No luck.


At the same time, Doc has found an injured guard. He points toward the secure car, whispers "Nobuo..." and Doc takes off in pursuit.


Boone is the first to reach the crate, but Yutaka tells him someone's coming and he has to hide behind some boxes.


Doc pauses for breath before rushing in...


And everyone piles into the secure car and waves their ARMs about, while the event programmers pat themselves on the back for recycling this opening.

But just as they're all drawing a bead on each other...


BOOM


What now!?
I think someone's on the roof.
Yes, I must agree. I believe this person may be the culprit who activated the emergency brakes. Would somebody like to volunteer to go up and investigate?

Um, Doc... these guys were pointing ARMs at you ten seconds ago.


I'm not as naive as to turn my back on a stranger.
Very well then, I shall take the lead. But please escort the young lady on your way up.

I suppose Doc is very forgiving when it comes to almost being fired upon?

VIDEO: Battle
Optional video, it's covered below too. Video suffers from mild technical issues, that's why I'm making this primarily a SSLP. I apologise, and hope you can tolerate it.

MUSIC: Wild Bunch




Up on the roof, the four drifters encounter a gang of robbers.

Behold, one of the best characters in the game.


Heh... Looks like we've got company. You guys sure don't look like guardsmen to me. Who are you anyway? And you, punk... Didn't I see you kick in the window and break into the cabin? Don't tell me you blokes are all Drifters going after the same treasure?



Boone and Billy exchange an embarrassed Look for a moment, before choosing to ignore each other.

Yes, we have been hired to protect the treasure. (At least that holds true for me.) We are here to protect the goods from ruffians such as yourself, and to deliver the goods to their rightful owner. I kindly ask that you withdraw. I would like to avoid any bloodshed and unnecessary expense if at all possible.


Once we take care of business here, there's a hefty reward waiting to roll right in! We don't have time to play!
I'd like to avoid the unnecessary bloodshed part, though.


The boss butts his pawn in the face, while the other pawn...
Well...
He's certainly pulling some kind of expression


(You're very sharp. By the way, how's your shooting?)
(I'll do my best.)
(Glad to hear. I'll be counting on you.)




So, are you planning to bite the dust, or bite the bullet and face us?


I think this might be a joke about the storyboarder having some impact on timing in a scene? Probably not...

Listen, time is money. Let's get this started already.
B-Boss... We're one short without Lucio, you know. I don't think we should bite off more than we can chew.
You blokes just do as I say! Or do you have a problem with that? You want to end up dead like Lucio? Psyche yourself up! Shut your fly, Dario! Be a man, Romero!


I don't know what the bearded guy, Dario, is doing, but I hope he's not had an incident while shutting his fly.
The blonde is Romero.


I mean, we just met two seconds ago, and now we're all buddy buddy teaming up together? I mean, c'mon! Hey, is anyone listening to me?

I am. What Doc has done here is kinda strange, as he's conscripted a pair of train robbers to fight some more train robbers and... everyone just goes along with it?
Oh, and a random eighteen year old girl.
What's making them work with him? Force of personality? Guilty conscience? Contrivance?

Stop rambling! We have to work together.
Yes, ma'am...

Oh I see, it's just the press-gang.

Well, we needed to get the party together anyway, and this seems like as good a way as any.

BOSS BATTLE: JANUS, DARIO AND ROMERO


The first 4-character battle!
This will be the standard for the rest of the game, so lets get used to it.

Also, our first battle with recurring enemies. These three aren't too tough at this stage, though they'll toughen up quickly as the story progresses.



Romero seems to fancy himself as a ninja or something. His throwing stars aren't too bad though, and his HP/defence is poor. A single round of focused fire can bring his down if you're lucky.



Dario is your basic outlaw lowlife. His sole attack is a single shot from his revolver. He absorbs much more damage than Romero.

Janus is much more interesting.
Fans of previous Wild ARMs games might recognise the blue hair and bayonet as callbacks to WA2's Ashley. Needless to say, Janus doesn't share Ashley's naive personality.



He has a number of attacks, this rifle shot being one of them



He can also run forward and combo a stab into a kick to knock your character down.



Finally, Multiblast can hit all of your characters at once for fairly serious damage.



Thankfully he'll only do that once. In this battle.



Those damage numbers can give you a pretty good idea of the relative toughness of our characters. Pearl is made of tissue paper. Unexpectedly, Boone actually has worse defence (though a lot more HP) than Billy, and Doc is a freakin' tank, taking only 3 damage there. The designers thoroughly rejected the concept of the Glass Cannon when they made this game.
(it helps that Doc is the highest level, but he retains his excellent defence as the others catch up)

Ouch...Ughhh...Is everyone okay!?

The game picks this moment to give us a tutorial about Mystic, Pearl's force ability.



Remember Extension, Boone's ability? Mystic is a lot like it, and just as useful.
It allows Pearl to use a single item on everyone simultaneously.





Here we're using one heal berry to heal everyone! We could have also used that one antidote to cure everyone if we were all poisoned, or one of the Mini Carrots to quickly give everyone 25FP. (a good tactic as Pearl spends 25FP to mystic and immediately gets it back from the carrot, making the action "free")
It works against enemies too. Mysticing a Water Gem allows you to use Pressure on an entire group of enemies. Unfortunately Janus, Dario and Romero are not "grouped" so that wouldn't work here.

Mystic is sublimely flexible - excellent for healing, supporting the party and for attacking enemies. Resources can also be scarce, so it's also great for helping you conserve resources.

Hey, you got your healing powers right here, too. I can restore everyone's health in one shot, so just give me a holler.
: Great, thanks! Let's all work together!

Boone's heal arcana is pretty good, but using/mysticing items to heal will always be more effective. But Boone doesn't consume resources when he heals with his Arcana.

All it takes from this point is sufficient application of bullets to finish the battle. I tend to defeat Romero and Dario first, then Janus.


(The reward might not be worth the risk this time around...) Heh, not bad, Princess. What do you say you quit that measly little team and come join us?


Thugs? Lighten up, Princess. We're all Drifters here. Aren't we?


My, my... Would you look at the time? It's time for us to bid adieu. Hope to see you soon...
We're not through with you yet!
Hm? What's that noise?


They take a leap off the train!


"They're not real drifters! They didn't even say it was time to fly or anything!


Fortunately for the robbers a train is passing on the track below.





... they got away...

MUSIC: Our Memories are Just Beginning

Somewhere in the wilderness...



My apologies for all the trouble. Please report any damages to my client. I shall arrange it so that you will be compensated.
That's the box with all that mysterious light, right? What was that, anyway? That light... It had some sort of warmth to it... Those thugs were after this light source, right?
What you saw, young lady, was the sparkle of the Ark Scepter. It's a sacred artifact used to communicate with the power that sustains the world.
The power that sustains the world? So that's what they were after...

Naturally, Pearl swallows this mystical mumbo-jumbo without complaint.
Anyway, that box sure got a lot smaller since Tony opened it in the intro. And, come to think of it, it looks too small to fit an Ark Scepter inside.
Maybe the real thief has been found?


There it goes... Sure was a stormy night, wasn't it?
So this is what I get for helpin' out... Stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Way to go Billy. First thing you've said in this update, and it's a whine.

We seemed to have missed our stop while taking care of business...
Okay... What now?
I must deliver the goods to my client. It should be within walking distance from here. I believe you might know where that is.
Well, uhhh....Yeah, I guess...Go northwest of here to a small village at the foot of the mountain. It's a place called Baskar. And if I may add, it's actually my hometown. Although I don't really feel like returning.


I was just in it for the ride... but... It's not a bad idea to reap the rewards. Gotta cash in when you can.


Let's see... Where shall we begin...? I know! Let's introduce ourselves.

Lets not. Also, awfully nice of Doc to share his reward with train robbers.


Before we continue to Baskar Colony, now that we have the whole team lets fit in some character comparisons.

While I may seem to be basing these conclusions on the stats at the start of the game, most of them will still be true at the end. These guys are pretty firmly set in their roles.



Best Qualities:
Reflex (RFX): Pearl will always be the fastest member of the team, and will act before 99% of enemies.
Evasion (EVA): Dodging enemy attacks helps Pearl build her force gauge quickly.
Mystic: Unparalleled healing and good attacking option.

Worst Qualities:
Attack (ATT): Definitely the weakest physical damage
Defence (DEF): Pearl is very poorly defended.
HP: Couple that with her low HP, and she can have problems.

It's really strange to see a main character who's not the primary damage dealer, but Pearl continues to defy convention. Her sheer speed and Mystic still make her invaluable though.



Best Qualities:
Attack (ATT): While not the best, Billy's a reliable source of damage.
Reflex (RFX): He'll also typically act before the enemies.
Aim (AIM): His good accuracy keeps his damage up.

Worst Qualities:
HP: Not that much better than Pearl.
Magic (MAG/MGR): His magic power is pitiful, and he takes lots of damage from magic attacks.
Accelerator: His Force ability isn't all that useful, as he's pretty fast already.

While I'll sometimes use Billy for casting a few buffs or debuffs, his main role is damage damage damage. Like Pearl, he tends to need a bit of babysitting in tougher battles.



Best Qualities:
Magic (MAG/MGR): The designated caster, nobody does it better.
HP: The most in the gang! In addition to living longer, Boone gets more of a benefit out of spells that scale off his max HP.
Extension: Tied for best force ability in the game.

Worst Qualities:
Aim (AIM): Sure, his ATT is high but it's completely wasted with such a low Aim.
Evasion (EVA): A sitting duck who more rarely gets that big 12FP bonus for dodging.
Reflex (RFX): Not THAT bad, but he'll typically move right after the monsters have.

Boone is pretty much always useful, whether its throwing out serious magical damage or mass-buffing/healing the party.



Best Qualities:
Attack (ATT): Oh baby. Few things rival Doc for the best damage in the game.
Aim (AIM): It's complimented by a very high AIM score.
Defence (DEF): The guy's a tank.

Worst Qualities:
Reflex (RFX): Doc's number 1 weakness. He will consistently move last in every turn, and enemies who spam status ailments or instant death can easily lock him down.
Bullets: Needing to spend every third turn reloading is a great way to put a cramp in his damage output.
Lock On: It's not a bad Force Ability, but it only makes Doc better at things he's already great at. It doesn't have the potential of Extension or Mystic.

Doc is the man. 'nuff said.


Next Time: Exposition, and a quartet of Megaman bosses.


Before I go though, some more e-mails.