Part 4: Episode IV: Fei Fong Wong and the War Against Nature
Episode IV: Fei Fong Wong and the War Against Nature
Alright, time to go visit Doctor Uzuki to fetch his camera for Alice and Timothy’s wedding. The sign wasn’t kidding about Citan living up a mountain path. The guy’s house is literally at the top of a nearby mountain range. So...time for the beginner dungeon.
It’s not too hard to make it to the doc’s house. There are even handy signs pointing the way. The western path leads to the Uzuki household. The eastern path leads to
GAH!!!
Music: Stage of Death
Oh yeah... I guess that sign should have mentioned the path is also infested with killer wolves. That would have been nice to know. Welcome to the battle system of Xenogears. The game has the old RPG classic staple of random battles and
Most of the battle commands are fairly sell fairly self-explanatory. Attack, Defense, Items,
The battle system in Xenogears is somewhat similar to the one in Chrono Cross. Battles use an ATB system to determine whose turn is up next. But, we can select commands at our leisure. Actually attacking an enemy involves performing combos as determined by a stamina meter. Light attacks will use one Stamina point, Medium attacks use two, and Heavy attacks use three. Right now, Fei only has three stamina points per round. But, that will expand greatly as we gain levels.
So, right now we could do one heavy attack, a medium and a light, or three light attacks. There’s more to it, but we’ll need a few levels under our belt before the more fun elements crop up. But, that’s the gist of it.
TLDR version: Fei Fong Wong defended himself from an ambush by roundhouse kicking the wolf in the teeth.
The other enemy present on the mountain path are Hobs which are...I’m not even sure...some kind of sentient animal-plant thing that will suck the blood out of adventurers’ junk if they’re not careful (13 HP down the drain is no joke at Level 1.)
The other offensive ability we have in our arsenal at the moment is Chi. Unlike Chrono Cross, the magic in Xenogears isn’t tied to Stamina. It just has its own
Chi Shot causes Fei to flip the bird so hard it produces a fireball that slams into his targeted enemy for slightly more damage than a Heavy physical attack. We’ll talk about Ether attacks more later on down the road.
For now, Fei is mostly able to get by with just headbutting fools in the face until dead. He picked up that technique from Dan.
Enemies will, of course, drop items when defeated and (if appropriate) gold. Wolves and Hobs don’t carry gold because that would be silly. But, Fei has no problem with headbutting and dick punching a Hob into jerky and consuming it for a 50 HP health boost outside of battle. Fei is pretty hardcore like that.
Leveling up will randomly boost assorted stats. I’m not entirely sure what determines which stats are raised at Level Up. I experimented a bit and I got this stats boosted using a Chi attack to kill the Hob that set me up to Level 2. Using a Heavy attack on the same one got me +6 to HP and 1+ to just EP, Attack, and Defense. Using three Light attacks got me different stat boosts too. It was consistent for every re-load of a savestate. So umm...I’ll just go with the explanation that it is random. I am pretty sure stats not boosted early on will eventually level out after a few levels.
Anyway, that’s battles in a nutshell. Now, let’s get this hike underway...
It’s a somewhat lengthy stroll up to Citan’s fancy mountain peak abode. Again...why is the town’s only physician living atop a mountain?
Right now, unless you super human protagonist jumping abilities, it’s not even possible for the average Lahan villager to reach the doctor for aide. And God help you if you try to reach him on a weekend. I hear he’ll intentionally cause landslides if he sees somebody approaching with a runny nose.
That said, there are a couple of little secrets on the path up to doctor’s dwelling. The first one is located just above the signpost and save point on the path leading back to Lahan. See that tree there on the left?
If we jump up and click on the thing, Fei will notice a bird’s nest. He’s then given the option to snatch one of the eggs out of the thing. Basically just as an excuse to get his foot in the door for a free meal out of Yui Uzuki. So, of course we’re gonna pocket the nutritious bird egg.
It turns out the bird (some manner of flying blue chicken) was in-fact nesting on the egg at the time. But, that doesn’t stop Fei. The chicken will squawk wildly and demand its egg back. But screw that! Finders-keepers, says Fei Fong Wong! The pissed mama bird will respond by pecking Fei’s head for 1 HP of damage and demanding the egg again every ten seconds or so for the rest of the trip. This is pretty annoying. But if we dash straight to Citan’s house, it will only crop up 3-5 times between all the random battles.
Just before we reach the mountain summit, there’s another special tree just to the left of that path that has a gigantic spider crawling up and down it. Well, hell... We’ve already got a spider’s web in our back pocket...
...that spider will feel right at home back there! Though, I don’t think Yui is going to cook that up for supper too...
Fei reaches the top of the mountain...
Music: The Valley Where the Wind is Born
Well, Doc Uzuki looks like he’s doing well for himself. I think this house is bigger than half of the buildings in Lahan combined.
The only cure for the undead is either shooting them in the head or decapitating them completely. You don’t need me for that. – Doctor Uzuki
The backside of the welcome sign shows the intelligence level of anti-vaccination folks is far below par no matter what world you’re on.
There are a few things to do around the area. But let’s say hello to the Uzuki family first. Fei and knocking before entering a room are foreign concepts, so he just barges in the front door and storms into the family’s kitchen.
"Hello, Yui. Where's doc...?"
"My husband is tinkering with his junk out in the backyard." “I should have guessed! Doesn't he ever get sick of playing with that stuff!" ”Well, the medical practice has been slow lately.” “The road leading up here collapsed from that storm last week...” *grumble* “And, that would explain why...” "Well, okay then, I'll go out into the backyard and see if I can find him."
“Please use it to make a tasty egg dish for doc and Midori." "Oh, what a nutritious looking egg! Thank you. I'll use it for dinner." ”No problem, Yui.” “By the way...is your head bleeding...?”
“Just a little bit...” “How did that happen?” “Uhh... Shaving...?” “But it...looks like it’s coming from the top of your head...” “I missed.” “How did you manag—“ “Look, there’s a reason I’m a martial arts guy and now a sword wielder. Let’s just leave it at that...”
“How about we feed the birds later?"
“...” ”Back off, creep. I saw you stuffing spiders into your pants while getting chased by an angry bird...” “...?” *nervous chuckle* “Heh...kids!”
Welp, that was enough socializing for now. Let’s snoop around the Uzuki property some before tracking down Yui’s husband. There are a few fun things to do. You know, the usual...
Raid the doctor’s medical stash...
Steal his hidden savings from the chimney...
Use his massive telescope to spy on the town below. Nothing unusual about that. No sir!
Midori Uzuki might have snubbed Fei’s offer to feed the birds outside, but that doesn’t mean our hero can’t indulge in the leisure activity by himself.
...Or he could just stuff a handful of birdseed into his own mouth. Uhh...
...Yeah, Fei is a little bit of an overly curious spaz sometimes.
In a nearby flower patch, we can locate a ring little Midori seems to have dropped while picking flowers. Well, I bet she’ll be happy to get it ba—
Fei Fong Wong: Kind of a dick. This is yet another item that will rot in the inventory till nearly the end of the game, at which point it becomes useful. For some reason the developers REALLY loved doing this shit with Lahan and its surrounding area.
That about does it. Now, let’s go find Doc Uzu—
“W, what’s going on?”
“Ohhh! This is no good! Why do they use such inferior parts? This is why their intervention strat...”
Ah. There’s Citan...working on a giant robotic helicopter crab... That seems perfectly reasonable for a peasant village physician...
"Are you alright, doc? What are you doing all the way up there?" "I thought I would try to restore this Land Crab. Oh, and that explosion was nothing to worry about. It happens all the time. Ha, ha, ha...! Could you wait a while? I am just about ready to call it a day. Oh, yes. There is something interesting in the storeroom... Why not take a look!?" "Okay, doc, I will. But please hurry up. It will get dark before you know it." ”My house is a five second walk away. But thanks for your concern, Fei.”Fei wanders into the shed beneath the Land Crab...
“Go take a look” translates to Fei thoughts as “mash random buttons until something interesting happens”.
*HACK* “Ugh... The hell?! Argh... It’s making my eyes burn...” “W, what is this...?”Music: Faraway Promise
The white statue in the box begins spinning in place and flower petals flow in from nowhere as a pleasant music box tune begins playing.
“What do you think? Not bad, huh?” “Doc...” "Hello again Fei. Sorry to have kept you waiting."Citan enters the room...
“Sometimes, it makes people remember things that they do not expect. Many thoughts, feelings, memories... things almost forgotten... Regardless of whether the listener desires to remember them or not..." "Doc, what is this...?" ”You’re usually not this heavy-handed with the foreshadowing.” "It was excavated from some old ruins, and is still under repair. Obviously it is an audio device of some type. Long ago people would listen to this melody, just as we are doing now... At times they would have been cheered up... While at times they would have been made to cry." "..." ”Doc, you been hitting your own stash again...?” “Well, I do not see how that is any of yo—err...” "By the way, what brings you here today?"
“Alice asked me to borrow some camera equipment from you." "Oh yes. Her wedding is tomorrow, right...?" ”Yup. Talk of the town.” “You say that as though that is an accompli—I mean, of course it is tomorrow...” *nods* "Understood. Well, we had better get them ready then. Oh, and dinner should be ready soon. Would you like to join us?" "Would I ever! I was hoping you would ask." “You...were not planning to leave until I invited you to dinner...were you, Fei?” “N-No...” "I still have some cleaning up to do out here. Would you mind giving Midori some company back in the house?" *nods* "Okay. Take your time, doc. I'll go ahead and eat when dinner is ready!" "Ha, ha, ha. Go right ahead.” <It is not like that is incredibly rude or anything> “But, I will not be held responsible if you get a stomachache from eating my wife Yui's cooking." *nods* “No worries, doc!” “No seriously, Fei. We like to have leftovers for a few days after Yui cooks. You have seen how far it is back down to the village... And all those bothersome jackals and hobgoblins. It is a chore to go shopping. I do not mind having you visit, but do not eat all of my food again... I have got a growing daughter to feed.”Fei begins to leave, but turns back toward the music box...
“I feel something warm inside..." ”Though that could be the birdseed.” “The what now...?” “Ergh...nothing!” "That just may be because you have someone living inside of you. ...And he too must have liked this music a long time ago before he became a part of you..." “...”Fei wanders off before Citan can drop some more vague cryptic foreshadowing on him...
“It might actually be better to live an ordinary life, in this condition... As a son of man..." “...” “Well, anyway. I suppose I had better adjust the gyro at least..."The pink hue vanishes and the flower petals cease as the music box’s tune slows down before coming to a stop...
"Huh....!?"
"... Now, what is going to happen...?"Welp...I think the chance of mecha suits raining death upon Lahan Village in the local forecast just raised to 85% for this evening...
Music: Stage of Death
Music: The Valley Where the Wind is Born
Music: Faraway Promise
Citan Uzuki Artwork – He has a PhD in Foreshadowology.