Part 8: Ruins of Memory
Update 8: Who can you trust if you can't trust an obvious villain?
Jolly Roger is far to the southeast, across this bridge. It's just in the shadow of that cliff to the right of the screenshot.

Searching near the beach turns it up.

We had something to do on the way though.
Farming for gems is a little bit annoying at this point because we need to build some FP before we can use arcana, and attacking to build FP invariably kills the enemy.
These gobs are perfect for farming gems because the accuracy on their Reckless attack is so low everyone can block, effortlessly dodge it and get the 12FP bonus. They can then be mowed down with Arcana in the next turn and precious gems harvested.
Since I already have about 3000 gella, all I need is 20 gems. This doesn't take long to gather.

Of course, I also have the option of complete overkill. Summons count as elemental attacks and convert enemies into gems too.

There are also these things, but they're no fun, as they're accurate enough to make dodging rarer.
MUSIC - Scenery Called Everyday







Lets explore the town for a bit and meet the locals before heading over there though.


I have been short on gurus lately. Maybe I'll give that a try...

I'm sure that's very useful to someone. Now if only you could get into the asylum to tell them it.

This kid will drops us some hints if we don't know where to go next. He's also got a book on his bookshelf.
Filgaia for Everyone posted:
In days long, long ago... the demons brought war to our planet from a faraway world. An alliance of living beings and guardians fought for Filgaia. The result of that war is not known to mankind. The very fact that we live, however, points to a victory for the forces of Filgaia. But look around you. Filgaia is a world of barren waste. It is believed the war caused this. In a certain sense, that war continues to this very day. As the creatures of Filgaia banded together to protect the planet, we must work together to revive it.
Right, I've had enough of these losers. Where's that grub and ale?
Inside the Bell Starr Saloon...

Typical inn system. Staying refills your HP, VIT and MTC. It's cheap enough, so do it when you get the chance, but it's also worth remembering there are a few places (such as Baskar Colony) where staying the night is free.

It's a deal

She spins us a tale of ancient demons and the treasures they left behind. I'm summarising because someone's about to repeat it word for word below.

A little bit later...




































Pearl... that was beautiful. I think I temporarily love you. Don't worry, it'll wear off soon.












With that resolved and Billy shouted down, lets take a moment to explore the back rooms of the saloon.

Heading up the stairs to the back of the room leads to this corridor. The door to the right is locked.
SANDCRAFT DOCK
Danger. Restricted Area. Go away.
Heading in the other direction brings us to some stairs. Going downstairs brings us to a second counter in the shop next to the saloon, where we find a Dragon Fossil in a barrel.

Back upstairs there are a few barrels at the end of the corridor, containing a Heal Berry, and an exit to a balcony overlooking the town. Checking some barrels on it gets us a Mini Carrot!
The only way out is back through the saloon though. As we exit, we see someone familiar...
















ASKing about <<Ruins of Memory>>


Janus waves, and he and his henchmen leave. We're free to explore again, and there's two things I want to do before we head off to the Ruins of Memory.
First of all, there's the matter of the map screen. These cost 5000 Gella, and are well worth the extortionate price. At this point we've raised 3104 gella, but we've also farmed quite a few gems.

Selling off our stock of gems gets us to 5404 Gella, and the map screen is immediately bought!
The other thing to take care of is a nice little secret in the crates around town.

Inside we find one of the most useful items in the game! The migrant seal increases your Migrant level by one. This decreases the cost to skip random encounters!
In fact it's already decreased the cost enough that if we go back to the Baskar Colony area, all encounters near there can be skipped at no cost. The exclamation mark turns green when this happens.
It'll give us a significant discount in the next dungeon too.

Outside, we can finally check out our map.
To be honest, I have problems with this damn thing. Not the map functionality, but those are the among most random and contrived landmasses I've seen in a game. It's a confusing mess and I always feel lost with all the continents jammed up together like that - especially since all of them are just varying shades of brown with occasional patches of green.
I guess it's dumb to be nitpicking a world map, but it just irritates me. And yeah that's the entire world, it wraps at the sides.
Anyway, we're down at the red dot on the southern continent. You can see the path we took from Baskar Colony (green square) in the filled-in squares.

We head south-east, following the cliff wall and pressing Square every few seconds to search the area.
Hey we found someth-

Oh, it's just a sign.
"Men who cry over losing a Gimel Coin often lose their lives. The best time for a Gimel Coin is right when you find it - Alan Smithy.
I hate these things. It's sage advice and I'm sure he meant well, but the only time you'll ever see these things is when you WANT to find something else!

The Ruins of Memory are found a little further to the east.
MUSIC - Scars of Leftover Memories

It seems dark and deserted inside. A long corridor leads us under a bridge and into the central hall.

Hey, is that a bayonet? Janus!





I'm not a bad guy.


Honestly, I'm not a bad guy



PEARL, LISTEN TO BOONE

DOC, BE MORE ASSERTIVE

PEARL, STOP BEING SO GULLIBLE





ASKing about <<demons>>




I'm still not a bad guy!
We can now explore the ruins. The passage ahead of us is blocked by a huge pile of stone and rubble.

A large heap of rock, resembling a human form. Could it be a sculpture from ages past? An overwhelming sensation can be felt from these rocks.
The only exit is to the northeast, which leads to a room full of smashed display cases.
Only the broken showcase remains, which is believed to have displayed artifacts from ages past.

There are a few new enemies in the ruins. Annaberge is some kind of freakish spiky chimera.

All it does is Stampede, a fairly powerful physical hit.

Using Analyse on it reveals it has an Ice elemental weakness we can exploit, though in this case bullets work just as well.
Annaberge tends to appear by itself, but Blue Books and Spartoi generally appear in groups of up to four.

Spartoi have a basic attack called Geist Gust. It's a decent amount of damage but wouldn't be a problem if they didn't have a high amount of health and their only elemental weakness wasn't Light, an element we don't have access to yet.
Blue books cast Quicken, Decelerate, Refrigerate and Pressure. Personally I think that any time enemies waste casting Quicken is a bonus for me - in random battles, it doesn't have THAT much of an effect.
They have an elemental weakness to fire, but Billy has Firey Rage and his MAG is so pathetic that he can't one-shot them with it. In fact...

...
For comparison, Pearl does about 60 damage with that. I pass it over to her for the rest of the dungeon.

The door is locked, but bombing the glass breaks it and lets us hit the switch.

Another locked door is opened with a boomerang...

And a third opens after putting out four fires.

Once again, bombing the glass lets us push the block onto the switch. The treasure chest contains a Heal Berry.
The next room contains a number of smashed display cases and a treasure chest with 1500 Gella. One of the exits leads back to the main hall - we've gone in a clockwise circle around it.

That plaque reads:
The sparkle of the Teardop shines ever so high. Many have tried to reach for the top, only to wipe a teardrop from their own eye.
I'm sure that will make sense eventually. Returning to the previous room and going north leads us to another treasure chest with a Gella Card. These special items are used on enemies, and double the amount of money it drops. Best used on bosses!
Heading north brings us to a dead end full of treasure! A Dragon Fossil, a Lucky Card and a Gimel Coin.
Lucky cards are similar to Gella cards, but you use them on your own characters and they double the amount of EXP the character receives. Once again, excellent for boss battles, especially if you Mystic them.
... though I should admit, in the chaos of a boss battle, I'm pretty bad at remembering to use Gella and Lucky Cards. I'll try to remember to.
Backtracking a little bit and heading east, around the back of the large hall...

As we enter the next room, the doors slam shut and lock behind us. Fortunately there doesn't seem to be any immediate peril, but we have to figure out how to get out of here.

This hall is lined with statues, but that once seems more fragile than the others... hm.

A little bit of explosive vandalism, and we have the switch we need.

We're starting to see treasure chests after battles. These provide additional treasure if you feel like chancing your arm to their traps. At this point the only trap they have are Booby traps, which cause the chest to explode if you're not successful. The explosion might not hurt you, but if it does it takes off half your health - a massive drain on VIT!
I typically have Billy open them, as he seems the most expendable.

The next room is a library. A few books of note here.
Ruins of Memory posted:
Fruits of ancient technology have been excavated from ruins all over Filgaia. Many of these historic rare items, such as the [Giant's Rock], excavated from the earth layer before the great ancient war are all preserved here. That is why this place is called, the Ruins of Memory.
All of the relics on display here have been carefully restored. Please be careful not to touch the relics.
War and Technology posted:
Technology is not something that necessarily evolves or improves over time. It may stem from the advent of a genius, or perhaps from the fruition of time and effort. Technology can even make great strides during times of war, where unexpected innovations are invented.
In fact, many highly advanced technological artifacts have been excavated from a certain layer of the earth. A layer, which dates back approximately one thousand years. According to folklore, this coincides with the period of the dark ages, when the great war with the demons broke out.
A period where war necessitated technology. New methods of destruction were invented one after another. This technological revolution finally came to an end, when the world could no longer connote this technology... In other words, the destruction of civilization.

The Lost Demi-humans posted:
Who were these demi-humans that appear in historical records? They are said to have resembled humans, but possessed great power unknown to man. They were said to have synchronised with nature to preform incredible feats. Similarities between the demi-humans and Baskar -- believers of guardians -- are noted, but nothing can compare to the scope of their power. Who were these demi-humans that are said to have existed on Filgaia? Where did they come from, and why did they disappear?
Family of Demons posted:
Folklore paints a vivid picture of invasion... Our forefathers recount the fear of demons, who were covered in steel with blood of mercury. The demons massacred a multitude of life-forms and brought about mass destruction with flames of atrocity. But as time passes, we have begun to utilize the artifacts they left behind -- as if we are now the spawn of demons...
For as long as we are human, we must embrace our prestige as a human race, and live proudly and accordingly.
There's also a book called "This Might Interest You," but it's sealed by magic and I don't have a duplicator to unlock it with.

Hm, a cracked wall. Wonder what you do here.

The treasure chests contain a Memo Pen and a Growth Egg.
Memo Pen - There are items called Gear that you can equip to your Guardians, to teach them more Personal Skills. I'll cover this in more detail later, but Memo Pens allow you to resist the Amnesia status effect.
Growth Egg - When used, increases your MTC and allows you to summon more often. Usually best to give these to Pearl and Boone.
I can't open the third chest - it's sealed with magic, and I don't have a duplicator. I'll come back to it though.

Hitting this green switch is a little difficult. The trick is to stand Billy on the platform to the left and throw a boomerang. Pressing the d-pad at the right time will make the boomerang turn and hit the switch.

The last puzzle in the dungeon.

Putting out the blue flame lowers the platform...

Relighting it with the Tindercrest raises it again.





MUSIC - From Beyond

By the way, I am so totally a bad guy.










Did he just call Pearl fat? Oh, it's on now!





Oh god Dario's fly IS open, whyyyy...
Janus: Prepare to execute the <<Trinity>>! We can go all out here!
ASKing about <<Trinity>>


BOSS BATTLE - JANUS, DARIO AND ROMERO (rematch)
MUSIC - Crossfire Sequence

The battle goes a little differently this time.

Dario and Romero won't actually do anything except shit themselves and run about. Losing his nerve gives Romero a massive boost to his evasion, while zipping up his fly substantially increases Dario's defence.

On top of that, if Dario or Romero take damage, Janus will immediately heal them to full with a heal berry.
Clearly we need to focus on Janus first in this battle.
On Janus' turn he will unleash the dreaded TRINITY!

The most ANIME thing this game has done so far

Probably the coolest Dario and Romero will ever look.
I retaliate by placing Turbulence and Shield on Pearl and Billy (Boone and Doc tend not to need that level of protection) and piling on Janus. Billy's Fragile arcana is able to decrease his DEF, allowing us to do even more damage.
After a turn or two, Janus will be a bit winded...





With those inspiring words, Janus buggers off.



Back to the battle, now missing Janus. All Dario and Romero have to use is their standard attacks, but they do retain the EVA and DEF bonuses they gained in the previous part, which can be a small problem. Overall though, they don't really have anything to challenge you with.






Our rewards. Excellent, a Duplicator.
You might have noticed the x1.1 next to some characters names. These are the result of using Personal Skills.
Every time a PS like [Fire Ward], [Defender] or [Counterattack] activates in combat, you gain an additional 10% bonus to your XP for that battle. This goes all the way up to 990% if you use enough skills.
This is a prime powerlevelling method with certain enemies and specialised builds, but it'll take a while before we can properly exploit it.
VIDEO - Janus rematch
Cut a few turns out of this. Best watched if you want to see Trinity in action.




For once, I agree with Billy

It's just it's a team of one now. Come on guys.



I'd love to say Pearl won't be this gullible again in the future, but...
Anyway, before we go back to town, there was a chest and a book that I needed Duplicators to access and I just got one. I only have the one, so I guess I'll open the chest for now and leave the book.

Hm, a little disappointing, but I think I have a good use for these. They allow us to rename NPCs. I'll just quickly head back to Baskar Colony and...

Rats. Lets forget about that.
Oh well. One more thing and that's us for today. Lets visit the ARMsmith back in Jolly Roger.


Lets upgrade our weapons!

We can't change our ARMs, but we can upgrade them at any ARMsmith.

We have five statistics we can work with, and fifteen Upgrade Levels to spend. We can reclaim levels from a stat, but we don't get a gella refund for that so it can be good to have a plan before updating. The gella cost for upgrading a stat rises exponentially the higher you take it.
SHT (shot): Each point of SHT translates directly into a point of ATT.
HIT: Same, but for accuracy.
BLT (Bullets): Not a delicious sandwich, clip size. More means less frequent reloading.
WGT (Weight): This ties into Gatling. It takes a fixed amount of FP to fire a shot in Gatling. For example, Pearl's current cost is 20 points, and at full FP (100) she will get off 5 shots. Each point of WGT decreases that cost by one, so that firing a 5 shot gatling will take 95FP, then 90FP, and so on.
CRT (Critical): Chances of a critical attack.
It's a little bit of a confusing layout, but the number next to the statistic is its current value. The number next to the graph is what it will rise to if it's upgraded.
So, here are the current ARM setups for our characters. How do you guys think we should proceed with upgrading them?




Next time: The best character.
Oh yes, e-mails.
quote:
FROM: A Day A Day (dayaday@boothill.net)
SUBJECT: Well Day
Today is June 3, Well Day. A well is a metaphor of the deepness of your mind. Dive deep into your heart and you will feel the tide making ripples on the surface of your mind. Feel it and you will see what is beneath the surface of people's expressions.
quote:
FROM: A Day A Day (dayaday@boothill.net)
SUBJECT: Bug Day
June 4: Today is June 4, Bug Day. Spiders and centipedes look like bugs, but they aren't classified as insects because they don't have six legs. How mean of scientists to not count them as insects just because of their number of legs. Are insects members of a secret society or something?
quote:
FROM: A Day A Day (dayaday@boothill.net)
SUBJECT: Mist Day
June 5: Today is June 5, Mist Day. Mist is scary, because there might be a mist spirit hiding somewhere. The dunes are scary, because there might be a sand spirit hiding somewhere. The sky is scary, because there might be an air spirit hiding somewhere. Come to think of it, there isn't much point to a day just for mist when you're scared of so many things.