Part 17: This Reminds Me of a Puzzle

Music: Crossing Over the Sorrowful Land




Welcome to Southeast Filgaia, the final continent! Southeast Filgaia is in a better state than most of Figaia, with lush green fields and an impressive number of trees.



That certainly is an odd rock formation. It doesn't seem to do anything, though.



After following the path south, we hit Honeysday pretty quickly.

Music: This Downpour is a Blessing from the Heavens



It sure is a relief to get back to civilization.
And I sure am hungry. C'mon, let's go find some food!
So THAT'S what you were getting all antsy about! Though I guess it is just like you, huh.
Hehe.
There's a place here called the Hometown Cafe that serves good meals. Why don't we go there?
Good meals?! All right! C'mon, then, everyone - let's set out for the Hometown Cafe!
Dean... It's right over there...



We've arrived in Honeysday, so let's see the sights!



This is the best Memory Bird.



Oh man, I don't know what this is, but it looks rad as hell.



As we approach the center of the village, our sightseeing is cut off by some dialogue.

The food here is really good! Doesn't it smell wonderful?



But...! Every time I came here the air was full of really tantalizing smells! Why not now?!
Cafe Owner: Sorry to disappoint ya, hon. But right now, there's almost nothin' left to cook... We got ourselves a serious food shortage in the village right now. So as much as I'd love to, I can't make anythin' for ya.
What?! But I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!

You're in luck, Dean! Honeysday just so happens to have a horse!

Oh, dear... We'll have to do something about that.
Cafe Owner: Well, if yer gonna do somethin', then do somethin' about them gobs in the shrine to the east. They keep comin' and stealin' all our food, the little bastards. That's why everyone here's starvin'. Even I haven't had nothin' but water for the past two days...
Nothing to eat for two whole days?! That sounds like a nightmare!
Yeah. I can just imagine you waking up in a cold sweat, running around looking for something to sink your teeth into.
Cafe Owner: But there ain't no one here who can go up against the gobs. All the men are away workin' -that just leaves women, children, and old folks. Not much any of us can do about it.
It sure sounds like you're in a bind... Dean, what should we do?
Like you have to ask?! Let's get to that shrine!
I figured as much. But let's not forget what we came for. Um, have you ever heard of a Johnny Appleseed?
Cafe Owner: Johnny Appleseed? That's the name of that boy who used to live in the shrine, ain't it?
Whoa, really?!

That's a strange coincidence. Maybe I'm just mistrusting, but I would assume this person is making things up to give us extra incentive to go to the shrine and clear the gobs out.

Cafe Owner: Yeah. Kid just waltzed in here one day. Called himself Johnny Appleseed. Or was it "the future Johnny Appleseed"...? I forget. Anyway, he stayed here for a little while, then he suddenly disappeared. Apparently someone saw him near the shrine once, but that's the last anyone ever heard of him.
When was that?
Cafe Owner: Hmm... 'bout ten years ago, I s'pose.
Didja hear that, Avril?! We may have found the trail of Johnny Appleseed!
But Dean, that was ten years ago! There's no telling whether we'll find anything now.
Yeah, but at least we know it really is a person's name! That's better than nothing!
Yes... So Johnny Appleseed really was the name of a person, not just that of a wine.
Yeah. Now we really need to go to that shrine!
Cafe Owner: If yer goin', please take care of them pesky gobs, too, will ya? If ya manage to bring our stolen food back, I'll treat ya to the best darn fried noodles this world's ever seen.
Fried noodles?! YESSSSS! I love fried noodles!



If it can be repaired, I was hopin' we could borrow it...

I like the way you think, Greg!

Cafe Owner: Oh, that? That's my husband's, but the gobs stole a spark plug right out from it. You know they're just tryin' to cause trouble. I mean, who the hell steals a spark plug?
Greg, what's a "monowheel"? It sounds like fun!
Remember that circular machine lyin' on the ground back there? That's it. If we could ride it, it'd be a lot easier to get around.
Cafe Owner: My husband don't need that thing, anyway. If you can get that spark plug back, it's all yours.

Oh, hell yes.

There you go. As long as we're goin' to the shrine, we may as well look for the spark plug as well.
And if we find it, we can ride around in that thing, right? Great! Fried noodles, Johnny Appleseed, and a monowheel, too! Now we're talking! All right! To the eastern shrine!
Poor Johnny Appleseed, stuck between fried noodles and a monowheel...

We could help these villagers with their food problem, but I think we should do sidequests instead! But first...



Flower-Tending Girl: If you do, then please, feel free to look at these all you want. They're all blooming as brightly as they possibly can right now...

That's Mariel. She'll be involved in a couple of sidequests later, but for now she's just tending to the flowers.



Bowtie Boy: It'd be easier to get by if I could just eat the grass like all the animals I keep... Maybe the occasional frog, too...

This asshole is Jude Maverick, from Wild Arms 4. He'll give us a sidequest later, but at the moment he's worthless to us.



I wonder who lives here? Whoever it is must be pretty rich!
Oh, it's probably just the Veruni that rules the village. What's so surprising about that?
Actually, it looks like it's not. In fact, it would seem to belong to someone we're quite familiar with. Look at the name written over there...
Where?
What do you know... "Nightburn Acklund"! Wow... So this is Nightburn's house!
Nightburn, huh...
That's all? Just a "huh"? I guess things aren't as simple as they used to be, are they? After what happened at the TV studio and all...
Well... I'd be lying if I said they were. But I guess I can't be surprised that he wasn't exactly how I'd always imagined him to be... Basically, I set my expectations way too high. And he turned out to be...well, different than what I imagined. In any case, he's still the top Golem Hunter. Not just anyone could get that far. That's why he can talk equally with the Veruni, and why he can have such a big house. ...I still look up to him, you know. It's just that now I see him as a real person who's done some amazing things, rather than an invincible superhero or something.
Dean...
Just watch - someday I'll get big and famous and live in a house like this, too! You'll see!



Rascally Youth: I got something I need to have transported over to the guild in Laila Belle... Trouble is, it's kinda fragile. If it takes any kind of shock, like in battle or something, it'll break into pieces. So...you'll need to avoid fighting anything from here to Laila Belle. It'd be quicker for me to handle this, of course, but... Well, some other work came up. Let's just leave it at that. So how about it? Will you take it?

Yes

Rascally Youth: Here's what I need transported to the guild - this egg. It's a monster egg, but it's fragile as all heck, so be careful with it. Oh, and if you screw up and break it, come on back to Honeysday, okay? I've got a few backup eggs here to work with. Good luck.
Obtained Humpty Dumpty!

Alright, we need to walk from Honeysday to Laila Belle without being attacked OR attacking in battle. So what we need to do is get a character with high enough RFX to go before all the monsters, and then flee as soon as we get into battle. This would be trivial if we waited awhile and leveled up way higher than the monsters, but this quest is only available at this point in the game, so we have to do it now.

That was Jet Enduro, by the way.



COME ON. I just want to help out Jet, and you keep throwing all this text at me!



Oh, I'm sorry. Was I in the way? Please, don't mind me... I'm just returning home...

She walks past the party, toward the center of town.

Wait! Weren't you crying just now?

God damn it, Dean.

Music: You're So Close Yet So Far Away

(Ack...so that's what it was... Dean just can't leave a crying girl alone, can he?)
...No, I wasn't.
You can't fool me! I saw those tears in your eyes!
...
Dean! I know how you feel, but let her be! It's the polite thing to do.
But-!

"But I love being a nuisance to everyone I meet!"

...I just got some dust in my eye, that's all. Please, leave me alone.
...
Dean, you have to be careful with girls when they're crying. Sometimes they want you to comfort them, but sometimes they just want you to leave them alone. You have to be able to tell the difference.
Then what about you, Avril? Way back when.
...Huh?
...I don't know. It just seemed to flow out of its own accord.



...I see. I hope I'm not being a pest.
Not at all. I appreciate it.
Thanks, that's good to know.
Wh-what are you talking about?
Nothing. Let's head for that shrine!

Music: Only Within My Heart



I hate this scene so much. It triggers when you try to leave Honeysday, so I always have a task at hand (either delivering the Humpty Dumpty, or heading for the shrine) and it interrupts it with completely unrelated bullshit.

Dean is an annoying pest who expects complete strangers to confide in him, and Rebecca is unreasonably jealous as usual. "Oh no! Dean always helps people when they cry, this is an established fact which I have commented on in the past. But now that I find out that he's trying to help Avril after she cried, it's like he's a totally different person!"

Music: Crossing Over the Sorrowful Land



Anyway, the enemies here are a little too quick for us, so I set Rebecca up with a ridiculous RFX stat. First I learn Add Badge Slot (bringing her total to four) and Ley RFX Up. (I'm not sure if this is considered for the initial turn order, but it doesn't hurt.)



And then I equip her with three Thief Badges, which I purchased in Honeysday. I also put in the Speed Skates, which gives her a RFX boost when the initial turn order is decided. The Rapid Shirt also provides a significant RFX boost.



Now Rebecca goes first in every battle, allowing me to flee immediately. Three Thief Badges is probably a little overkill, but they're only 300 gella, and it's better to be over prepared than under prepared. I also put a Rabbit Badge on Greg, which prevents us from dropping gella when we flee from battle.



After setting Rebecca up like that, it's just a matter of walking from Honeysday to Laila Belle. Since I made sure to purify the Sol Niger, encounters aren't a problem in Starlit Path.

Before we head for the Golem Hunters' Guild, there are people to see in Laila Belle!



Woman Drifter-in-Training: I need to go sign up with the Hunters' Guild so that I can run all over Filgaia as a Drifter!

Yeah! Become a Golem Hunter so you can spread your wings and soar across the wasteland!



Up-and-Coming Business Lady: And even though I was giving him my death stare, he just smiled and handed me the handkerchief I'd dropped... ... Just remembering it gives me the shivers... Not even macho merchants can withstand my piercing gaze!
Middle-Aged Butler: I do hope the young mistress will not let this trouble her too much. That Drifter boy doesn't know our mistress for the shrewd businesswoman she is. In his eyes, our mistress is simply a lovely young girl.



A nice detail, Greg leaves your party when you enter the Guild, because he's a wanted criminal.



Red-Eyed Receptionist: Your work exceeded my expectations. Allow me to give you some of my most treasured items as a show of respect for your skill.
Obtained Ambrosia!
Obtained Frey Amulet!
Obtained 3000 gella!
Red-Eyed Receptionist: Thanks to your delivery of the Humpty Dumpty, it looks like my research is ready to move on to the next step. While the power hidden within the egg is unquestionable, the Humpty Dumpty's beautiful form is truly a divine work... It provides me with a great deal of inspiration.

The more attempts you take, the fewer rewards you get when you finally succeed. So even though you can go back and get another egg from Jet if you fail, it's better to just load a save.

While we're here...

Red-Cheeked Parrot: I see you've collected 7 medals. In appreciation, allow me to give you the moon-shaped badge, sparkling with psittacine fashion sense.
Obtained Silver Moon!
Red-Cheeked Parrot: I'll have another reward for you once you've collected 12 medals.

The Silver Moon increases Max MP by 25. While in the Laila Belle area, I stopped by Provectas and talked to the NPC I mentioned earlier in the thread.

Underachieving Security Guard: My friends and I were talking about this TV show they had on a while ago. For the first time in the history of the network, the humans they had on the show actually defeated the monster they were fighting...or so I hear, anyway. I wonder if they deliberately put a really weak monster on the show? Probably just a gimmick to drive up ratings.

Back in Southeast Filgaia, if we follow the path northwest from Honeysday, we come across the train station Meisis.



Kanon is inside, so we can check our progress with the Sol Nigers.

Crimson Warrioress: Right now, 7 of the Sol Nigers on Filgaia have been freed. There are 18 left to purify.

Wow, only 7? It feels like I've purified so much more...



Rugged Train Workman: Some unknown architect took the problems devised by a puzzle aficionado and brought them to life within a mysterious alternate dimension. If you run into one in your travels, I think it'd be well worth your time to try it out. I'm sure whoever made them would love to see his creations tested by anyone who thinks they might be smart enough to challenge him.

It's Brad! Speaking with Brad has activated the Puzzle Box sidequest. There are 20 Puzzle Boxes hidden across the world, which we can now find using the search system.



Puzzle #1 is northeast of Meisis. When you search in the appropriate area, a crystal appears which warps you to the puzzle when touched.

Video: Puzzle Box #1
Music: How Long Will This Puzzle Box Continue



The goal of the Puzzle Boxes is to clear all of the colored boxes and then reach the exit. When two or more like-colored boxes are lined up, they vanish. You fail the puzzle if you or a box falls off the platform, if you end up with only 1 box of a particular color, or if you cannot reach the exit after clearing all the boxes.



If you press the square button while in a Puzzle Box, the camera changes to give you a clear view of the entire puzzle, and gives you a few self-explanatory options.



This puzzle is pretty easy, as it is the first one. You just have to push all of the blocks from one side to the lower platform, and then push the other blocks onto them. It is impossible to screw yourself out of reaching the exit.



When you clear a puzzle, a treasure chest appears beside it on the overworld.

Puzzles Cleared:
1/20

The Art of Wild Arms



That's a lot of cameos.