Wednesday, October 17, 2012

TEXT PLAY: Legend of Mana (PlayStation; 2000): Issue #36: A New Perspective

This whole thing is reminding me yet again of a post I've been meaning to write if I haven't already.

I remember having at least said that I was going to write a piece about the drop-rate formulas in older versus newer adventure- and RPG-type video games I've played over the course of the twenty-some odd years I've been gaming. But that's for another post, either written or potentially video. I've got a different tangent I should probably go on if I'm going to go on one here.

Anyway, the game. After a half hour or forty-five minutes of running around in the Tower of Leires, which is where I was last time, and not getting anywhere, I decided it might be smart to look at that strategy guide I've been looking at from time to time. A perusal of that suggested that a good idea at this point would be to make a tactical retreat from the tower and come at it again from the entrance.

So, what I did was I backed on out as quickly as I could and went to Domina to sell off some of the treasure I'd gotten from all the battles I'd been in. Seems like I had about fifty-three of everything the monsters dropped in there, and I know I'm probably not going to need all of that even if I get the workshop at the avatar's house going. Then I saved the game and got some rest, with the plan being that I'd get back at it when I wasn't quite so wiped out from all the other stuff I need to do during the day.

One thing I did between sessions here was print out a copy of the directions to get through this dungeon. Yeah, I kind of suck at mazes like this. It wasn't hard, in particular. I just have trouble figuring things like this out sometimes.

Anyway, once I finally got on the right path to this thing and got to the top of the tower, Pearl says something about going to face her past and tells me to run away if things get too weird. Meaning that there's gonna be some ass to kick and I'm the one who's gonna have to do all the kicking. It's nothing to worry about, really. Just an Iron Giant with really high defense. Good thing I've got a decent attack by now, I guess, even if I'd given up on the whole two-handed He-Man sword in favor of my more preferred one-handed unit when I retreated to Domina.

And then, with the Iron Giant out of the way, our good buddy Elazul finally decides to show the hell up. Like the gentleman he is, he tries to make Pearl leave with him, but somehow she talks her way out of that, saying some shit about wanting to keep looking for her destiny with me. Not that I blame her or anything, considering that the dude who was supposed to be protecting her wasn't, really. Elazul threatens to murder me if something happens to Pearl on the way down. Guess this is one of the things that Haddaway is famous for singing about.

Fortunately, getting back down is comparatively easy. The bad news, however, is that Sandra the Jewel Thief shows up and tries to rip Pearl's core out with a summoned monster called the Jewel Beast II. The thing looks like something from a crappy sci-fi movie I saw reviewed on Radio Dead Air one time. I wanna say it was by Diamanda Hagan or Derek the Bard, but it's been awhile now and I've forgotten who exactly it was doing the review or even what the movie was called.

But anyway, once that boss fight is over, Pearl thanks us for the help and says she's gotta go catch up with Elazul before he really gets all pissy with her over this. Before she goes, though, she gives us an AF called the Frozen Heart, I believe, and says that she thinks Elazul may be leaving her. Elazul may be an asshole to her, but after this, I've kinda gotta take his side for a change. Pearl has proven to be something of a space cast before, and now I see that she's useless in a fight to the point of Edward from Final Fantasy 4 look halfway decent.

Now that the mission's over, it's back to tell Lil' Cactus about this. His journal says he's getting confused and is starting to lose enthusiasm with it. I understand and am kind of there myself. I could just go beat the game now, but at this point, I think I'd at least like to finish this Jumi Arc thing I've got started. I guess I'll try for that and see how I feel about the game then. From what I understand, it's not mandatory to finish all three story arcs to actually beat the game, but we'll see how it all plays out as we go along, I guess.

So, until next time, stay safe, have fun, keep gaming, and DFTBA!

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