Part 7: The Train to Laila Belle

There's not really anything else to do in the area aside from collecting overworld treasure chests, so we're heading straight for the Cavam Valley station.

Music: "Goodbye" and "Hello"



Relax, Dean! You're embarrassing us! You could at least *pretend* not to be so ignorant!
Hehe.
Sorry we got sidetracked, Avril, but it shouldn't be much longer until we find Johnny Appleseed. Once we get on the train, I bet we'll reach Laila Belle before we know it.
Do you think so...?
...? Are you worried about something?
Hmm, no, it doesn't really feel like worry, but...
Hey! It's him!



Glad to see he made it out after we left him to die.

Yeah! The guy who almost got Chuck killed! I'm gonna go give him a piece of my mind!
N-no, Dean, wait! Think about it- from his point of view, we're the ones who stole the mirror. If you go and cause a scene, we might wind up not being able to ride the train!

I seriously can't get over how nobody acknowledges the way we left that man in a collapsing mine. They act like taking the mirror is the worst thing they ever did to the guy.

Besides, Chuck turned out okay in the end, anyway. Just let it go! For Avril's sake...
Urgh... Yeah... I guess I'd better hold it in for now...
Good job, Dean. I'm impressed! You're maturing more and more with each new day!



Urrgh...

And then they board the train.



Trains are the best! Look at how the scenery just blazes by!
Cut it out, Dean... You're making it really obvious this is your first time on a train.
So what? There's a first time for everything, right!

And then he runs off for no explained reason.

*Sigh* So much for maturing...
Dean, be careful not to get lost...
What are you two waiting for? C'mon, let's explore this place!

Cutscene: The Train to Laila Belle
This cutscene doesn't work well in screenshot format, so I highly recommend watching the video.
Music: From Anxiety to Impatience



Dean peeks around the corner, but he sees something and ducks out of sight.



Dean: Hey, wait... Is that-?

Dean follows the man to the cargo car.



Dean: Greg... So you really are out to destroy golems...
Greg: ...You're that kid from before. Back off. Or would you rather die with this golem?



Dean: Why do you have to keep blowing up golems, anyway? They're all we've got to teach us about lost technology! They're vital resources for improving out lives! And besides all that-I love golems! They're so big, and shiny, and cool... Yeah... If you saw a live golem yourself, I'm sure you'd understand! I've seen one! A real golem's arm, moving and everything! If you'd seen it, I know you'd-



Greg grabs Dean by the collar and shoves him against the cargo.

Greg: You saw a golem's arm?! A man with a golem's arm?!

Before Dean can answer, Rebecca and Avril step out of the train.



Greg: Hurry up! There's no time! Tell me, kid! Tell me what you saw! Spill it before this entire car gets bombed to bits!
Rebecca: Wha-?!
Avril: Bombed to bits...?
Dean: All...all I know...is...

Music: I'll Never Lose Because I Don't Want to Lose




He said, clutching his throat where Greg grabbed it.

Dean: ... You can't be bad! You saved Chuck in that village! You're not a bad person!



Greg shoots the ground by Rebecca and Avril



Greg: Good, bad, I don't give a damn. I've been destroyin' golems for years, I've done it before and I'll go it again, regardless of what you think! Until I can draw him out and finish him off, I'm never gonna stop! D'you head me?!




Dean attempts to back away, but finds himself with nowhere to go.

Greg: Give me your hand.
Dean: What?
Greg: Your hand, dammit! There's no time!




Greg hands us this... Pokeball? and proceeds to kick us in the chest.



Oh no! Dean is falling to his death, what will happen next?!



Oh.

I'll have to take Greg there once I've captured him. Who knows, maybe I'll run into Dean and his friends? By now they must already be on the train, I hope they make it to Laila Belle safely...



Okay, back to the action!

Music: rebel assault



Another... Pokeball? falls past Dean and somehow manages to hit the ground far before Dean does.





It's kind of hard to convey in screenshots. They just pulled that dumb action movie thing where the shock from an explosion breaks a character's fall.



Oh crap! The cargo just exploded!




This is so dumb.




Dean runs over toward the explosion and sees Rebecca and Avril falling to the ground.




These girls are taking a long time to hit the ground.



Dean catches Avril, and Rebecca lands gracefully on her feet.

Rebecca: Hey! Why didn't you catch me?!
Dean: ...Well, uh... I figured you could handle yourself, and... I mean, you're all right, aren't you?
Rebecca: Yes, but that's besides the point!

Greg approaches the group, and the cutscene ends.

Music: Nothing is Better than the Usual Time



I knew you weren't a bad guy. Because of you, we managed to avoid being blown to smithereens. Thanks.

He said, after watching Greg blow up a train.

You forget already? I'm the one who blew up that car in the first place.
Even so, you still saved us. The way I see it, you deserve our thanks.
You're one weird kid, you know that? Just talkin' with you is throwin' me off-balance.
Well, as long as you're off-balance, how about you put a stop to your golem crushing?
-!
You looked like you wanted to hear about that golem's left arm, I could tell you about it in exchange... I'm not gonna demand anything from you, but it sounds like a pretty good deal, if you ask me. So how about it, Mr. Golem Crusher?
... Heh... You really are an odd one. Back in Mirapulse, you went up against a Veruni to save the hige of someone you didn't even know... I've never seen a kid-hell, I've never seen anyone like you. Fine, you win.
Whoa! Then-!
Yeah, I won't crush golems when you're around. It's a deal.
Wait-that's not good enough! You have to promise not to crush golems even when we're not around! Otherwise there's no deal!
What?! You know how hard it was just to make that concession?!
Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but... Where exactly are we? It's still a long way to Laila Belle, isn't it?
Yeah. You sure won't be able to walk there, at least. There's a town called Gounon not too far from here...
Okay, why don't we head there first? Maybe we'll be able to learn something about Johnny Appleseed there.
Huh? You're lookin' for Johnny Appleseed? You'll find it in Gounon.



What IS Johnny Appleseed, Greg? You mean it's not a person?
I never thought we'd find it before we reached Laila Belle... It sure is an anticlimactic end to our journey, huh?
...
Tell us, Greg! What's Johnny Appleseed?
Calm down already. You'll find out once you get to Gounon.
You don't have to hide it from us!
I'm not tryin' to hide anything. It's just...well, let's just say Gounon's not one of my favorite subjects.
All right, how about this? I won't ask you to stop crushing golems when we're not around... But in exchance, you show us the way to Gounon! How's that?
...All right, you got yourself a deal.
Great!

Avril walks up to Greg and stares at him.



Do you by any chance have... a medium?
Yeah, I do. Why?
I can feel it... The medium you hold is an original...

Obtained Sword Medium!

An original? What's that mean?
I...don't know...
Ah, we can explain it all later. Basically, Avril's lost her memory.
Amneisa, huh? That's pretty tough.
It doesn't bother me that much, as long as I'm searching for Johnny Appleseed.
Yeah? All the more reason to head for Gounon, then. To get there, we'll have to follow the river south for a while, then turn back north and pass through a cave. Anyway, now that we've made a deal, I'm expectin' full details about that golem arm.
I know, I know! Now let's get going!

Greg joined the party!

(Man, talk about gettin' thrown-off balance... With them around, I almost feel like I could forget everything that's happened to me...)
(... But... I won't forget... I'll never forget! There's nothin' left to me...)





THANK GOD, we finally get to play!



As you can see, we're still in Northwest Filgaia, just a bit north of Mirapulse. The northern circle is Gounon, and the southern one is the cave we have to pass through.



Greg joins us at level 14, putting him three levels above the rest of the party. With him, he brings the Sword Medium, which increases HP and ATK.



I use the my Blank Medium to create a copy of the Sword Medium, so I can put one on both Dean and Greg.

There are 32 Blank Mediums in the game, more than enough to copy every single medium for every single party member. There's not much point in doing this though, beyond making a second healer for a difficult boss or giving everyone EXP Up for grinding.



The Sword Medium gives us a handful of useful Personal Skills and Arcana, and is a perfect fit for Dean.

Sword Medium

HP/ATK Bonus: Increases HP and ATK.

PS Counter: Randomly counters physical attacks.
PS Dash: Allows movement to any HEX.
PS Ley HP Regen: Recovers HP when the character begins their turn on a Ley Point.
PS Penetrator: Ignores the enemy's DFP when making a critical hit.
PS Ley ATK Up: Adds a +25 bonus to ATK when the character is on a Ley Point.

Crush Arcana: A physical attack to any enemy HEX. It changes its element to that of the HEX the character is on.
Quicken Arcana: Adds RFX/EVA Up status to the target HEX.
Heavy Crush Arcana: A powerful physical attack to any enemy HEX. It changes its element to that of the HEX the character is on.
React Plus Arcana: Adds DP/EP Up status to the target HEX.
Hyper Arcana: Adds ATK/MAG Up status to the target HEX.

Jump (25 FP): The inhabitants of the user's HEX jump to any empty/ally HEX.
Sonic Vision (50 FP): The user attacks with a critical hit.
Intrude (75 FP): Allows for two consecutive actions.
Equites (100 FP): Powerful physical attack on all enemies. Gains strength for each ally in the HEX.

PS Penetrator and the Force Ability Sonic Vision both compliment Dean's Double Critical PS nicely. Combining these with Hyper will turn Dean into a wrecking machine.

Those of you who played Wild Arms 4 may recognize Intrude. In Wild Arms 4, the character Raquel had the ability, though it only costed 25 FP to use. This is a problem, because if you had 100 FP, you could use Intrude five or six times in a row, and really break boss fights.

Music: CONDITION GREEN



Greg's ARM has a small clip size, with his default ARM Part only holding 2 bullets. He makes up for this with high attack power. His ARM's range is the same as Rebecca's.




Just because I never showed it before, here's what the Jump ability looks like. Because of PS Dash, it's not terribly useful unless you need to move several people at once, or if the enemy has you cornered. I normally use it, along with PS Dash, to run into a weakened ally's HEX and move them to a safer location.



I'm not sure if I ever brought them up before, but if a character is standing in a HEX marked with Escape Zone, they can flee the battle by moving off of the HEX and into the Escape Zone. Now that we have four party members, we can also switch a party member out for a different one by using an Escape Zone.



I couldn't get a screenshot of it (It activates like, 10% of the time.) but Greg's inherent PS is Shoot and Guard. Sometimes after using the Shoot command, Greg will guard until his next turn.

The Art of Wild Arms



With today's update, we have Greg's profile, and a picture of Greg, Rebecca, and Dean.

-----

I decided to cut this where I did because of the length of the previous cutscene. I already have all the screenshots taken for the dungeon, so expect more later today or tomorrow.

Because of the general structure of the game, long cutscenes followed by long dungeons are going to be happening a lot. Would you guys prefer it if I take this approach, putting the chunks of pre-dungeon dialogue in one update and the dungeon in another update shortly afterward, or would it be better to combine them into one huge post?

Also, because it didn't occur to me to really describe what the mediums do until just now, I went back and added details on the Sky and Sea Mediums into the post where I got them, along with a more detailed description of how Mediums work.