Part 145: Episode CXLII: Beyond Thunderdome
Episode CXLII: Beyond Thunderdome
Now that pleasantries around the Yggdrasil are concluded, let’s tackle a couple of tiny sidequests. There are still two areas on the map that we didn’t take a gander at last time. Those are the easy to find sidequests. The continent to the southeastern part of the world we have wandered around a bit back during the dark days of the Narration Zone’s terrible reign. We’ve also heard about it quite a bit. That continent is Elru. The one a 12 year old Id razed to the ground and gave Ramsus his first ass kicking.
There isn’t much at all left of it due to the whole demi-human genocide thing before the story began. The northern part of the continent is dominated by the Mass Driver facility from way back at the beginning of Disc 2. We cannot actually enter the place or anything. But it’s nice that it actually appears on the map, unlike most of the locales we “visited” earlier in the disc.
Hmm... Well, if north is the Mass Driver facility...according to the Narration Zone to the south ought to be...
Ah. Taura Melchior’s House. I guess he was the only one left when Elru was wiped out. Funny how somebody from Shevat managed that...
It’s worth mentioning that it is a good idea to grind in this forest with the Trader Card equipped on someone. A rare enemy, this overgrown snail fellow, will sometimes spawn. He’s a pretty hardy critter with most physical attacks only doing 1 HP of damage, so he’s good for practicing Deathblows against. His only attack is poisoning people and that does damage barely worth mentioning. But the real reason we want to hunt down these guys is that with the Trader Card equipped, they will drop extra pairs of Speed Shoes. We could definitely afford to take a bit of time to deck out the other two party members with some fancy new kicks.
Music: The Valley Where Wind is Born
Anyhow, on to Taura’s House. There’s nothing to do outside. Elly isn’t around anymore to have awkward relationship banter with anyone. So let’s pay Xeno-Yoda a visit.
“I want to help you more... but this body can't survive unless it breathes the air here... Looks like I'm just about ready to meet my maker, huh... Ho, hoh, hoh!"
“Oh, Taura...” ”...That is kind of in poor taste considering recent circumstances...” "Don't worry, I'll stop my moaning. Besides, I have a nice present for you. The fate of the world is in your hands. We're counting on you...! In the mean time, I will just watch from here..."
Taura forks over a Manly Mantle (Armor that increases in defense when allies are KOed) and Goddess Robe (nice female armor with +10 to Ether and Ether Defense.) And...that’s it! That was the whole sidequest. Go talk to Taura and get some free swag. And we never see him again! Out of curiosity, let’s look at all the characters that are still alive but are out of lines for the duration of the game...
Quite the list...
The final blue dot landmark on the world map is...ugh! Kislev... Kislev is still somewhat active...? Clearly, this is proof there is no real god in Xenogears’ world. And look! They didn’t even take the time to remove the Yggdrasil IV from the middle of the area. Shameful.
Music: The One Who is Torn Apart
On a positive note, Nortune itself is a smoking wasteland of a dead city. So at least there is some justice in the world. Just about all of Nortune is inaccessible. D Block had one of those Hecht suicide bombers land on it. Bart blew up A Block taking out Merkava. Though...there seems to be something still there on the map...
Indeed, there is some kind of robotic device that will exchange harvested body parts and flesh from monsters in exchange for cold, hard cash. I have no idea why this is here in the gaping hole left behind with the loss of the administrative district/power plant. But the janky automated service game me around 100,000 G for all the fangs, eyeballs, and meat rotting in Fei’s pockets. So I’m not complaining.
The only other active area in Nortune is...ugh... really? The Battling Arena survived the apocalypse? How?! Why?!
Fei and the gang enter C Block and are immediately greeted by a lively fellow...
“What inhumed our world that day was...an angel...a, a so-called messenger of god? My sister, my mother, my father...they are all dead! I, I am a soldier of the military empire of Kislev! And yet, ...and yet, ...and yet, I could do nothing!!! Damn it! ...Damn everything!”
*hops around* ”Damn, damn, damn!”
“Fei...why did we come here, again?” *shrug*
There are a handful of survivors from Kislev hanging about, including...oh god! Big Joe is still alive...?
“Death poured down on all the living... It was fate, unavoidable fate! *stops and laughs* "Allow me to show my appreciations for all you have done, fellas. I brought this here from the Wildcat bar in what was the Imperial capital Nortune. I also fixed it up a little. It should be a lot more friendlier now. But you'll never know unless you try, so give it a listen, huh! It was hard to get rid of the elegant old grain look it had when placed in the 'Wildcat', but...well, anyway, don't you think the new faux marble design is kinda groovy?" “Uhh...neat...”
So if we received the M Disk from Big Joe way back when we were in Nortune, there is now a fully functional juke box that plays most every music theme in the entire game (none of them are labeled though.) This was pretty neat back in 1998 when it took 20 minutes to download an mp3 over a 56k connection. Not so much nowadays.
“The world has been shattered by angels of death but we still live on like this. This is not the end for us! I'm a 'Battler', a warrior! I'll fight, fight, fight on to the end, unto death do me part!" ”Have fun pretend fighting I guess.” “And how!”
“Our world lost such names on that day... The survivors have gathered in the snow field far to the south... It's 'the last stand of the living'!" ”Yup. Kind of a downer. Sucks that you live on the other side of the planet from there. Though, ya know, I’ve got an airship if you wanna lift...” “You really don’t wanna pick up chicks from Kislev, Bart.” “Hey. The Ignas war is over...” “Are you gonna bring back a woman to the Yggdrasil...with Margie there...?” “...” “...I don’t see how that would change anyth—“ “Uh huh.” *arms turn into fans* “Kissing cousins! No good!”
“It's not that everything has ended. Our planet has just returned to its original state... And we are still alive. All has not been lost... Looking at your eyes, I know you too haven't lost your hope... Hehe... I remember the day you came to the Imperial Capital." ”...Do I know you?” “It’s me. Diana. From D Block?” “...Don’t remember a Diana.” “The Doctor in the bunk house?” “Oh. Right... Sorry... I tried to block most memories from back then out. So uhh... How’s things?” “Well, after I got my job back treating people in D Block to take over for your delinquent friend I...lost my job the next day when half of D Block was blown up... And my other position was already filled. Tell your doctor friend he’s a real jerk.” “I’ll tell him!” “But not much beyond that. And the end of the world and stuff...” “Ah... I see... Well, nice talking to you...” “Take care. Watch out for...well everything these days...”
Welp, due to the administrative district turning into a giant robot and flying away, I guess nobody informed the Battling Arena receptionists that their services were no longer needed due to multiple global catastrophes. There are no more Battling Tournaments. But we can now participate in one of two Special Battle modes.
The default mode is fairly straightforward... We can pick from Xenogears or either form of Weltall to take on wonky enemy gears in battle. Winning earns us Battle Points.
We can exchange our Battle Points for fabulous prizes. Of course, we only get 300-500 BP per match and we need several thousand (or hours of playing that terrible mini-game) to get anything worth a damn. But there you have it.
Also available is the second Special Battle mode. This is an exhibition bout that can be customized. No BP is awarded for these matches. But we can fight against the computer or even a second player if you want to stop being friends with someone. Nifty...
There is a huge number of Gears to select from in battle. Everything from Xenogears to Bladegash to even a few giant monsters is in the mix.
If you ever wanted to see who would win in a fight between a dinosaur and a giant worm, this is the mini-game for you!
Note: It is the dinosaur. All that said...I have figured out a very useful feature of the Battling Mini-Game. I went ahead and set a single match at the highest difficult level to determine something very important...
Rico...
Chuthulhu...
WHO IS THE MOST USELESS CHARACTER IN XENOGEARS! (Click to view the epic clash!)