Part 2: Celestial Peak 1
Music: A Vast Plain, Under That Sky
With our business in Capo Bronco finished, we head out into the world map.
You'll notice that we're not large enough to crush Capo Bronco beneath our feet. Wild Arms 5 is honestly the only RPG I've ever played with a to-scale world map, so it makes field travel feel really unique.
To the west we find the entrance to Celestial Peak. Now that we're in Celestial Peak, random encounters are turned on.
Music: When the Heart Ignites (ver. shovel)
I already explained the battle system in the OP, so I won't repeat myself here. I will, however, note that Rebecca's ARM is capable of hitting any HEX in a straight line, regardless of distance.
Dean, on the other hand, is equipped with a shovel, so he can only attack adjacent spaces.
Music: At the Frozen Depths of the Heart
Not far into Celestial Peak, we encounter a fork in the road. One path leads us to a crevice which is too wide to jump.
The other path leads us around to some dialogue.
Quiet down! We've got to be careful. They say the monsters around here have been getting stronger.
Really? You were going to come out here alone without even knowing that?! *Sigh* Why am I not surprised... You really are like a little kid. You can't do anything without me around.I don't really get Rebecca here. She's faulting Dean for putting himself in a dangerous situation when he had no clue there was any danger involved. It's not really his fault that nobody told him about this.
What?! What about you? What ABOUT me?!*RAOR*
Dean, get back! You don't have an ARM to fight with! I'm not gonna let you fight that thing alone! ARM or no ARM, I'll do what I can! Arrgh! Why can't you just do what I say for once, you idiot!Music: Terrible-Monster Attacking Crew!
Special encounters tend to move a hex or two around to make the battle more interesting. This happens with every boss and mid-boss in the game, along with a few other scripted encounters.
It looks like we're in for a shootout, Rebecca! Once an ARM runs out of bullets, it's pretty much useless, right? Yeah! So make sure you cover me when I guard and reload! Okay! No problem!
As alluded to above, guarding (move into the HEX you're currently in) reloads any spend bullets in your ARM.
This guy isn't particularly dangerous. His worst attack is Crush, a physical-type magic attack. It dealt about 300 damage to Rebecca, but he doesn't use it terribly often.
He goes down in just a few turns.
Music: At the Frozen Depths of the Heart
Whew... we did it. I never thought we'd run into anything like that... And it's all thanks to my super screw attack! What-ever! That's nothing next to my acrobatic shooting!They grin at each other here.
All right! We're unstoppable!
Turns out we're right above the crevice from before. Unfortunately, Dean decides to spoil the puzzle before we get a chance to solve it for ourselves.
We can slide into it to knock it down, forming a bridge.
I would like to show more of the dungeon, but most of Celestial Peak is just walking forward down a path that looks pretty much the same from beginning to end, so we're just jumping from cutscene to cutscene here.
Yeah... back when old man Tony brought us here for the first time. That's where it all started for me...Music: Only Because It's Important, Does It Easily Break
Huh? Where? I don't see anything...
Right here! Look! Wow... It's beautiful...
Tony: Well, well, Dean. It looks like you've made a friend.
A friend...? You mean this bolt?Tony: That I do. This is no ordinary bolt, you know. That's a bolt from a golem! Golems are living beings, right down to their smallest parts. This bolt must have been very happy to hear you say such good things about it, so it chose you as its owner. Trust me-the world's finest golem engineer knows what he's talking about!
God, even when she was 10 she had to show off as much skin as possible. At least her pants reach her knees, I guess.
Yeah, I can feel it. It's almost like it's pulsing with warmth...Or it's been sitting out in the sun all day?
...Music: At the Frozen Depths of the Heart
And with that, the flashback is over. We learned that Tony was always crazy, Dean was always stupid, and Rebecca always dressed like a whore.
Well... now that I've turned 16, I'm an adult right? It's time to put faith in myself, step out into the wilderness, and prove my inner strength. Y-yeah, I guess. (Where have I heard that before...) So... I've decided to leave the village. I can't spend my whole life like a spoiled child, sitting around the village, being pampered by adults. I want to go out into the wilderness on my own. You and I have been together ever since we were little... so I wanted to tell you about my decision out here, where it all began for me. ... You've really thought this through, haven't you... I feel silly for thinking of you as a kid all this time. Here you are, all grown-up and everything... You don't have to act so surprised... I mean, you spent all this time practicing your acrobatic shooting so you could get famous, right? Don't you want to go out and become a circus performer?A common goal for 16 year old girls, I hear.
Well, yeah, but... I don't think I can just up and leave like that, the way you can. ...? Really? Yeah. So I think it's great that you were able to make up your mind like this. But I guess there's one thing I'm worried about, and it's that you don't have an ARM. I just don't think it's very realistic to head off on a journey across the wilderness without at least some kind of weapon. Now, now. I've already thought of that. I'm gonna become a top-class Golem Hunter, just like Nightburn!
All I have to do is head into the city and register at the Golem Hunter's Guild, and they'll give me an ARM! ...How stupid of me to think you were actually giving serious thought to your future! The city's not next door, you know! How do you expect to get that far without an ARM?! Wait... THAT'S where I heard it! That thing about placing faith in yourself-that's just a Nightburn line, isn't it?! Amazing... Look, you've got to get grounded in reality before you can start moving forward. But I don't wanna be on the ground, I wanna fly! Come on, I've made it safely this far, haven't I? Excuses, excuses! You know, the monsters in the northern cave are way stronger than the ones here. You've barely made it this far-out there you'll just be monster bait! *Sigh* All I wanted was for you to give me a nice send-off... Okay, okay. How about this? I'll take you all the way to the far end of Celestial Peak-further than you've ever been before. In exchange, if I can do that, you have to admit my strength and take back that stuff you said about my being monster bait. And then you have to give me that nice send-off. ... I know you never listen to anybody once you make up your mind, but... *Sigh* Whatever. Go ahead, take me to the far end of Celestial Peak. I suppose if you can do that, I can acknowledge your strength... a little. All right! It's a deal. I'll show you just how strong I really am! Watch and learn!
Here we have an incomplete log bridge. I can't jump to that log, and Dean can't swim. The solution?
Copy and paste the previous puzzle, of course!
And then we get to solve it again a few areas later!
Unfortunately, we can't proceed in that direction without the Super Missiles, so solving that puzzle for the third time was pointless.
Several more areas that look the same as the rest, and we come upon a Sol Niger. Using this will fully restore our Max HP and MP, and it will give us the option to purify it. Every dungeon has a Sol Niger.
To purify a Sol Niger, you have to defeat a powerful enemy. This one isn't particularly dangerous, but later on they get pretty challenging.
Purifying a Sol Niger gives us the option to turn off random encounters in the dungeon by pressing R2. More games with random encounters need to let you turn them off.
Not too far down the path, we're greeted with a full motion cutscene.
Cutscene: The Girl From the Sky
Something appears to be falling from the sky.
Rebecca: ...Hey, can you hear that? Kind of a whistling... No, more of a whooshing...
Dean finally notices the object just before it crashes into the ground before them, and he pushes Rebecca to the ground to shield her.
Rebecca: Thanks, Dean... Are you okay?
Dean: Yeah, I'm fine, but...
Rebecca: What was that? An earthquake?
Dean: ...
Rebecca: ...Huh? You're going in there?! Hey, hold on! It could be dangerous in there! Are you listening to me?!
Rebecca: What in the world... is that...?
Dean: Huh... That earthquake from earlier must've been from this arm falling down.
Rebecca: Falling down? From where?!
Rebecca: I... I can't believe this is happening... I guess I don't have much of a choice, though... Why does this always happen when Dean's around?
I recommend watching the video of this cutscene, if only to see Dean's reaction fully animated.
Dean: It's a golem! A real, honest-to-goodness golem!! I can't believe it! This is incredible!!
Rebecca: How foolish of me to think he'd actually grow up a little. He's no different than he ever was...
Dean is a child.
Dean: So big, so heavy, so shiny... I think I'm in love... C'mon, Rebecca, you gotta check this out! It's awesome!
Rebecca: Are you crazy?! That thing could be dangerous!
Dean: Don't worry, I know quite a bit about golems, actually, and this- This here is the left arm. It's perfectly safe.
There's a few seconds of Rebecca just silently staring at Dean here.
Rebecca: Um, maybe I'm missing something here, but... What exactly is your point? That doesn't make any sense at all!
Dean: Come on, don't you get it? When you're shooting, you pull the trigger with your right hand, and then you reload with your left hand, right?
Rebecca: As long as you're right-handed, sure.
Dean: In other words, Rebecca, the left hand can't hurt us without a right hand.
Rebecca: You really are crazy! Quit goofing around with that thing!!
Dean: See, look at that! Look how dangerous a right hand can be!
Rebecca: Why, you...!
Rebecca: -?!
Rebecca: The golem... it's moving...!
Dean: A live golem...?!
Music: The Ice Queen ~I Loved Your Smile~
The girl who was cradled in the golem arm starts to slide off, and Dean runs to catch her.
Rebecca: Dean!
Girl from the Sky: ...
Rebecca: Are you okay? How do you feel? Does anything hurt?
Dean: My name's Dean, and she's Rebecca. Who are you?
Girl from the Sky: ... Johnny... Johnny... Appleseed...
Dean: ...Johnny?
Rebecca: Johnny... That sounds like a guy's name. Is that your name?
Girl from the Sky: ...No... But... it's important...
Suddenly, the cave starts to collapse!
Dean: Rebecca!
As he's running, Dean looks down at the girl.
The two make it to safety, and the arm drops into the abyss below.
And then it explodes. (???)
Rebecca: It's gone...
Dean: It just... vanished...
Rebecca: Hey, Dean... what do we do about her?
Dean: We should... take her back home with us. We can worry about details later.
There's quite a bit more I wanted to fit into this update, but it seems I wont be able to without making it run on for far too long. Expect the rest of Celestial Peak tomorrow.