This is about where I start running
into trouble with this game, I think.
Part of what's been keeping me on this
one is that now that I've pretty much got Domina and the Luon Highway
all cleared out, I've been a bit confused about what to do next.
We're at a point where I'm gonna need a little help, I think, so I'll
be using, at least in part, the walkthrough at the Legend
of Mana Fan Site. I won't be following it exactly, of course, as
it's a little late for that, if nothing else.
So, I guess we're off to a place called
Gato. It's the place Daena said she was from, I think. Maybe we'll
run into her someplace here. The first big mission here is to help
Inspector Boyd try to solve a murder. Previous attempts at getting
through this game have left me with the impression that Boyd is more
like this Inspector.
Sadly, I get to play the role of Deux Deux this time. And I'll feel
like it by the end, too.
To get Gato on the map, we need to use
the Flame Artifact I got from Niccolo, I think it was, when I
finished off the Mantis Ant a while back. I'll just plop that down
to the right of where I've got the highway. Got everything it a
straight line for now, but that'll change in a bit.
The mission starts when a nun tries to
help a Sproutling, one of the plant dudes we've been seeing all over,
with some sort of bug infestation. If we follow it from the village
to a forked path, we'll meet some dude named Mr. Reubens. I wonder
if Reubens's first name is Paul...?
If you talk to him, he'll introduce himself and say something about
somebody trying to jack something called the Flame of Hope. Since
we're already on the left path, I'll go down that. After we leave,
somebody drops a note for Reubens. Could it be Ultros
the Octopus?
Down this path is the Gato's temple,
the Temple of Healing. About all that's here for now is a nun
praying. Keep her in mind for later. In a back room, we find Daena,
who says she's watching over her friend Matilda. I think that may be
the friend she wanted to talk to Gaeus the Earth about before, but
that's for later, too, I supect.
One of the cool things about Legend of
Mana is that it's got quite a big selection of sentient races and
species in it. It's rather like quite a few of the more famous
pen-and-paper RPGs in that regard. In this first Gato quest, we're
having our first encounter with the Jumi race. The Jumi are a people
who have glowing jewels on their chests that act as their hearts and
control their life forces. As the quest progresses, we find out from
Boyd that there's a jewel thief named Sandra who's been offing Jumi
like mad so she can hork their jewels, or as they call them in-game,
cores.
Sandra's got something of an alter ego,
and I ran into her in Gato's shop when I went in to buy a new sword.
Later on, she'll dress up as one of the local temple's nuns while she
stakes out Mr. Reubens, who, as luck would have it, is a Jumi.
Anyway, we find all this out while chasing one of those Sproutling
guys I talked about before, who's running around with something
called a Popo bug buried in its leaves.
Sandra wants the bug because it's
supposed to have potent medicinal qualities to it. She's nice enough
to offer it to Reubens first, but he's too big a pussy to take it off
the Sproutling while Sandra's got its leaves pulled back. Reubens
says he doesn't want to take the bug because it requires causing the
walking head of lettuce discomfort. A moment later, the Sproutling
runs off, after which Sandra tells Reubens to grow a pair because the
bug was already irritating the plant guy and he could have used the
bug to save his girlfriend in another town I don't have the Artifact
for yet.
At this point, we have to leave the
conversation to find the Sproutling. It went to the temple and
started pestering the nun who was praying there. The Sproutling runs
off, apparently tripping the praying nun in the process somehow. The
first place to look is with Reubins and the other nun. The
Sproutling isn't there, but the nun murders Reubens and takes his
jewel core before teleporting out just before Boyd shows up. The
inspector thinks you did it and accuses you before running back to
the temple for some odd reason. With his dying breath, Reubens says
he wishes he could see his girlfriend Diana again and then vanishes
into the ether. Not quite the origin story for Wonder
Woman I'm familiar with, but it could work.
Back at the temple, Boyd has you go
look on the outskirts of town for Sandra while he screws around in
the temple for a little while longer. At least there's a dungeon
with battles. I could use the Lucre and XP. And so could the pet
Rabbite I brought along.
All this time, I've been thinking I've
been forgetting something, and this is probably it. I think I forgot
to mention last issue that my monster egg from the Monster Corral
tutorial a couple issues ago had hatched, and it was a Rabbite. I
named it Red Green, after the title character of one of my favorite
sitcoms. Pets can gain levels just like player characters and NPCs.
An interesting thing in all of this is that the pets can develop
personalities as they level up based on what they get fed. That's
one of the things the produce and meat is for, I guess. One way to
level them up is through battles, like I'm doing here. Another is by
leaving them out in the barnyard. Either way, pets eat every time
they gain levels, and the kind of food they get changes their
personalities. I'm not entirely sure, but I think there may be
quests later on that require pets, but don't quote me on that just
yet.
Anyway, back to the quest at hand.
Chase Sandra to a big waterfall, and Boyd will somehow catch up just
in time to see Sandra toss a grappling hook onto something called the
Cancun Bird and get flown off. The quest ends with Boyd and Sandra
exchanging Doctor Claw impressions. Sandra says she'll
be back; Boyd says he'll
get her next time. In the meantime, there are a few other
missions to go on, so it's back home for me and Red.
The next quest takes us back to Gato,
this time to help our buddy Niccolo with something. This is a pretty
simple one. Niccolo just wants to get some Greenballs because he
wants to steam them and have them as a snack. Not a surprising thing
because he's kind of a big bunny. But then again, I really shouldn't
make jokes about Niccolo's being a fatass. In real life, I'm one,
too, but I'm trying to change. But anyway, this one's pretty much a
chance to play through one of my favorite Adventures With Bill
segments from the Red Green Show, where Red and his buddy Bill try to
get some wild honey. In
this case, we've just gotta go to the waterfall. Don't even have to
go through the dungeon if we don't want to, but hey, might as well
grind a little bit while I've got the chance.
On the way through the dungeon, I
learned a couple new fighting moves and a new limit break. Once we
get to the waterfall, Niccolo starts running around like mad, so I
just head off screen to the right for a bit, then head back to that
waterfall and stand on the log for a bit. This would be a good
chance to go get a drink or maybe make a sandwich or something if I
hadn't already had dinner. Once I'm back to the game, it's time to
step off the log. A Faerie will show up and ask what's going on
there. I don't think it really matters what you say, because
whatever you tell the Faerie will make Niccolo finish up and do
something that really set the
Spoony One off when he did his LP of SWAT 4 before asking you the
same thing the Faerie did. I don't think the answer really matters
this time, either, because it'll end the quest with Niccolo giving
you a Greenball Bun, the Broken Doll Artifact and 500 Lucre for your
trouble.
But since we're pretty much done in
Gato for now and will need to use another Artifact. This time, it's
off to a place called Mindas, according to the guide I mentioned at
the top of the issue. We'll at least get started on that next time,
in Issue #5: The Mindas Touch.
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