Thursday, September 6, 2012

TEXT PLAY: Legend of Mana (PlayStation; 2000): Issue #30: Highway To Hell (NSFW Links Within)

A little AC/DC seems appropriate right about now...

When I finished the last part of this arc, I said I needed to got to the entrance to the Underworld to find Sierra. Why I didn't actually do that, I'm not sure, but at least I had an interesting side trip along the way. I just hope I didn't shoot myself in the foot as a result.

So anyway, after I did what I thought I was doing when I dealt with Hamson, Skippie and Southerbee instead, I wound up with Sierra beaming in right on top of me. Thanks for the attempted telefrag there, honey, not that I don't deserve it.

Our lovely friend reintroduces herself and explains that she's been tasked with defeating the devil and saving her brother. On the one hand, we were there for that, which is why the last couple issues happened the way they did. On the other, the refresher is kind of nice after that unintentional break. Sierra then goes on to say that she can't get around hell on her own and needs our help to get through to Drakonis and her brother Larc. I said I'd help when last we met, and I'm a man of my word. And that's enough to get her to rejoin.

Now, we could just go straight to Hell like Sierra wants. She wouldn't be the first female to tell me that, after all; she's just the first one who's ever wanted to come with. But I'm the sort who would rather take the opportunity to run around Fa'Diel with her a bit first. Strangely, there are no objections to this, even as I take her to the Gato Grottoes, my house to pick up some fruit from the Orchard there and my pet zombie Ed, Domina, and the second Orchard for more produce. Got something called a garlicrown and a springania this time around, plus cornflowers and a few other things I've mentioned before. I guess the lack of objections comes from the fact that I wasn't trying to get Sierra into my actual house or the inn or pub in Domina.

But after all that, it's time to get down to the actual task at hand and get going on this little Nature Trail To Hell, and yes, those of you who know me the best probably could have guessed that I was going to reference that. Once we get underway, Sierra says she senses evil. No shit. We're in Hell and she senses evil. Who would have ever guessed that there's evil in hell?

Drakonis sends us a telepathic message welcoming us to Hell, saying I'm very noble for switching sides and helping Sierra rescue her beloved brother. It's not so much nobility on the avatar's part as it is a player who's thinking below the belt instead of above the shoulders, but in the end, I'm not sure how much it really matters in this case. Then Drakonis says he's just gonna stop all that right here by dropping six undead knights on Sierra. She beats them off with no trouble. I'd say that moves like that from a character like Sierra give me a case of blueballs, but given some of the [Rule 34/Rule 63 fanart I've seen] (NSFW, login- and age-restricted FurAffinity art), I'm tempted to think I won't be alone in that situation by the end of all of this.

After another all-too-easy trip through hell, with a lot of interesting shit to pick up along the way, we come to a group of Shadoles who transport us to the depths of the Underworld, where we run into Larc, who is followed quickly by Drakonis, still in his Sultan Sulieman the Magnificent getup. Drakonis tells us that we're going to see the rise of the underworld and his true form. Larc steps in and says that Drakonis promised him a duel if he got the Mana Crystals from the other three Dragons. Drakonis then says that yeah, that was the deal and gives Larc a reward by turning him into a monster and making Sierra and I kick his ass.

Turns out Larc really did know he was in the wrong the whole time but went ahead anyway because he wanted to be as strong as his sister Sierra, and he thought it was the only way. Too bad the poor bastard couldn't have had the balls to just tell her that before he wound up transmogrified and getting all sliced to shit by folks with swords. But now he's dead and Drakonis is free to rise again, this time bringing Pandemonium Castle to the surface. I'd try to leave and save the game back at my house, but from what I'm led to believe when Vadise shows up, that may not be possible. The Dragon of Light goes on to tell us that if we believe in love and the Light Side of the Force and all that, we can get through this if we work together. Since there doesn't seem to be much of a choice but to finish what we started now, and we're not given any other options anyway, we may as well agree to go into Pandemonium, known as The Flames here, and take out the Devil.

But, it's a little late for that at this point, so I'll take advantage of the save point just inside the door here and get back to all this next time. See you soon in Issue #31: Castle Pandemonium!

Until then, stay safe, keep gaming, have fun, and DFTBA, everyone!

No comments:

Post a Comment