Part 33: .hack Outbreak - //Update 09 - Rachel's Courier Service
//Update 09Hello, everyone! Welcome back! After accomplishing the impossible last time, I think we deserve another break. Unfortunately we have to deal with Rachel and Moonstone, so it's not gonna be a very restful break.
Oh well, nothing for it. The sooner we get started, the sooner it'll be over with. So lets-a-go!
Does it feel like, to anyone else, that these e-mails are bookending our progress? Maybe it's just me.
Gardenia is like a cat. The people who show her attention and affection get ignored for the one person who doesn't care. Presumably this means she also coughs up hairballs and claws the door frames.
What? I wouldn't put it past her.
I'd kinda like to see a collectible card battling game where 3 or more people fight in a giant brawl. Was that how MtG worked? I seem to dimly remember 3 or 4 people playing magic games before classes started in the mornings during high school.
Just listen to the sound those bugs make. Gross gross gross.
So, starting off with Rachel's quest...
I get the feeling we were meant to do this a while ago. Y'know, before Cubia or even possibly Fidchell.
: (Kida) Hey! You guys are the Rachel Courier Service?
: Yup, that's us!: OK, I've got a job for you. There's a player called Akai in the dungeon, so give him the Red Sword and get the Yellow Cap.: No problem!
Oh the Sled Dog Kings. Oh these guys. How I searched and searched for these guys. I wanted to data drain one to get a juicy gooey item, but I couldn't find them anywhere. But that's a story for later on down the road.
These Dark Stalkers are really kind of forgettable. Their monster type is always either physical or magical tolerant. Otherwise they're wholly unremarkable.
: (Akai) What? You brought it now? You guys were late so I traded the Yellow Cap with Aoyama. But I'm sure if you explain it and give him these Blue Boots, he'll give it to you.
: I think Aoyama is at the very bottom.: Urgh... we gotta find Aoyama!
I really think the game intended these dragon enemies to be mini-bosses. They have a fuckton of health. However they also, to a one, have crippling elemental weaknesses. This particular one is weak to wood element, which Wiseman is exploiting here.
So instead of being tough encounters, they just take marginally longer than most others and occasionally deal more damage. But when your Wavemaster can heal the whole party for 800 damage at a time, and with how plentiful recovery items are...
Yet another of these three floor dungeons. Aoyama is obviously to the north, and the Gott Statue is to the east.
A fairly nice pair of pants for the heavy armor user in your party.
: (Aoyama) Hey, you can't ask for something back after you traded it.: Oh come on... Please... trade for it.: Oh all right... but only this one time.
: Thanks a lot!!
: OK, let's give the Yellow Cap to Kida on B1.
The game is merciful enough to teleport us back to B1 to hand the item over.
: (Kida) Hey, thanks a lot!
: Um... I've just been wondering...: What?: If you just asked Akai to come here, you really didn't have to ask for a courier...: Ah... uh... it just seemed interesting, so I just felt like asking...: Wh - wh - whaaaaaaaat?!: Ah, well, thanks a lot... um, bye!: Oh man, he was toying with us!: ......: You're not getting away!
Rachel left to go commit assault against Kida. So we're gonna just invite Moonstone so we have an alibi for when she gets arrested.
He's getting better at this whole "talking to other people" thing. Soon we hope to start him on complicated things like verbs and sentence structure.
Time Visitors are part of a class of enemies that are deceptively powerful. It has half as much health as that dragon encounter in Rachel's dungeon, and it also hits like a truck. They also become more common the higher the field's level climbs.
Yet another three-floor dungeon.
There are so many things I want to write here, but everything that comes to mind doesn't feel appropriate or funny. It just somehow makes so much sense that Moonstone is obsessed with the moon.
: :-) I'll give this to you, Moonstone.
: Are you sure?: Of course!
: Thanks... For you:
: Thanks!: ......: OK, let's go back.: Yes.
Moonstone is pretty generous! I forget where we got the Feng Shui, but it's also pretty nice.
Okay fuck this. Fuck it. I'm tired of grinding for virus cores.
So I'm gonna cheat like a motherfucker. Suddenly the game has magically improved 1000%.
Virus cores are a horrible mechanic and I will not be sorry to see them go. They're purely bullshit padding and add absolutely nothing of worth to the game. The fact that every couple quests you have to go out and pointlessly grind through enemies hoping one will drop a virus core is actively disrespectful of the player's time.
Inside of the field we meet this lovely fellow. As best I can figure, he's got a drill speared through his chest. I guess someone tried to go Simon on the golem, but lacked the requisite spiral power.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe Nightmares can deal a Death hit. Otherwise they're just more fodder.
I'm gonna be perfectly honest here, until I fought them I had completely forgotten this style of enemy even existed. Give me an hour and I'm sure I will have forgotten again.
And we have another version of the freaky floaty alien enemy already.
These sand enemies are more annoying than anything else. They have a lot of health and despite being weak to wood element, they don't take a lot of damage from it.
Yet another three-level dungeon.
This guy wasn't very hard. I don't remember him dealing very much damage.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Oh my god that's funny as hell.
It doesn't live very much longer.
Σ Resonating False Grasslands is added to the Word List.
Aww. Moonstone made a friend.
You know, if I had to join a sports club, the Badminton Club would be about as far down the list as it could go. I don't even know how to play nor do I have any desire to learn.
Rachel I'm pretty sure there are better ways to make money than launching courier services. Like just going to lower level fields, looting every chest, and selling all the vendor trash.
NEXT TIME: We're on our way to the end of the game. We won't fight the final boss next time, but we'll be in position to do so afterwards!
Stay tuned!