Monday, November 19, 2012

TEXT PLAY: Legend of Mana (PlayStation; 2000): Issue #42: Diddle Goes To Hell

Or at least the Underworld.

Seriously, is there anybody besides me and Capella the Juggling Monkey watching this guy? I swear to god, this guy gets into a whole shitload of trouble for some guy who plays the hurdey-gurdey for a dancing monkey.

I specifically chose this mission for a reason. Well, maybe not this one in particular, but one that wasn't specifically part of the Jumi mini-arc. I've got some thoughts I want to put at the end of this, and I figured they'd go better at the end of something that wasn't directly plot related. I'll get into that more later, though.

One thing that this quest makes very clear about the game is that the closer to the end of the game you get, the less intuitive, I guess, the quest gets. See, when I went to Lumina to look for a quest, the first place I went was to the Tavern to find Diddle and Capella. Diddle went and did the same thing he did in Domina and ran the hell off to... someplace, I guess. I'm not sure if there are stamps for sale here, but no matter what, Capella said he wasn't going to go looking for him, so I went looking around town for him with no luck to be had. With that, I decided I'd better turn to the strategy guide I've been getting hints from.

Now, I'm not saying that I would never have thought to go back to the Home area to advance the quest all on my own. It's just that there's no indication in-game to that effect, and my tendency to wander would have gotten the better of me well before then, probably leading to me getting screwed out of something along the way. Seeing Niccolo in one of the shops wouldn't have helped.

Anyway, after I mess around at my place for awhile, I step back out and four Shadole creatures from the Underworld go into Lumina. Going there again and talking to Capella makes him break down and go looking for Diddle. He and I rush out to the city map just in time to see Diddle get carted off to the Underworld by the Shadoles a la Baby Oscar in Ghostbusters 2. Capella goes running off after him, and I get to go after them both. Joy.

So when I got to the tombstone, a Shadole popped in where I had expected to find Larc and took me to the bottom level of the Underworld, where we had one of our first big fights in the Dragoon Arc. Pohkeil is there, and he gives us some gibberish about how the underworld's a place not for the dead but those who still just barely cling to life with no reason, and as long as there's light and happiness we'll be free. I agree, but would rather not talk to him right now, especially since that can cause the mission to fail, from what I understand.

From here, it's a matter of getting from the room we were put into to where Diddle and Capella are. It's not difficult, but it is a little tricky because there are a few rooms with Shadoles in them, and we can't touch them without being sent back to the starting room of this section. The hardest part for me was the last room with these little floaty guys, because they'd go invisible and still be able to send you back to the start. It took me three or four tries to get through there, but I did make it eventually.

On the other side of this little maze, Diddle and Capella are having another of their little arguments. Diddle says he's bored again and thinks he wants to stay in the Underworld, at least until the Shadoles say they're going to turn him into one of them. They are the Borg, I guess. Diddle changes his mind and starts playing his hurdey-gurdey. Seeing that he still wants to live and so does Capella, the Shadoles say that we can all go if we can get away from or beat their Ape Mummy. Since Capella and Diddle can't fight, it's up to me to take care of the boss monster while they run the hell away. Fortunately, this is not a hard fight. Making it all the easier, I had a limit break almost built up, and hitting the ape with that took out most of its remaining health. With that, the mission's over, so it's time to save the game for now. I'm not sure if we'll see these two again, and I'm not sure I really care at this point, which sort of ties into the thoughts I want to end with.

I do know there's still at least one more Niccolo quest to deal with, but I think I want to get Elazul out of my house first so I can use that save point again. I think I know how to do that, but it's going to take a good chunk of time to do that, and I'm not entirely sure when I'll have it.

Having said all that, I should note here that I seem to have screwed myself out of some of the quests in this game. I guess that's to be expected, though, since this has pretty much been a blind playthrough since no less than halfway through the Dragoon Arc. My research shows that this may kind of be the whole point of the way the game was designed. I know there are three story arcs here, but at this point, I'm thinking that once I'm done with the business of the Jumi, I'm just going to say screw it and finish the game. There are other games I'd like to do, but I'd like to finish this one first, and since I can, I may as well.

But there's still a half dozen things I've gotta do before I actually finish with the Jumi Arc, so that may very well change and I'll decide to do the whole thing. Either way, I may as well get on with finishing the Jumi stuff at least. See you soon, folks.

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