This is one slow-ass quest.
I think when I'm done with this quest,
I'm going to do a little Final Fantasy. It's overdue, and I'm going
to need a break from Legend of Mana anyway.
See, this quest we needed Elazul to
start is a perfect example of why I'd get maybe a quarter of the way
through the game before I'd rage quit and then try again like a year
later every time I tried it before. It's not even that this isn't
exactly the most linear story ever. I like that aspect of it, even
if that does sometimes make it a little hard to know where to go
next. What frustrates me is that I'm well into that part of the
game where they don't really tell you where to go to find the things
you need to complete the specific quest you're on at any given
moment.
It's something I can forgive Square for
when it comes to the original Final Fantasy. It was a game they were
making back in 1986 and '87, when they had to work around the limits
of 8-bit systems and the game carts they played. On top of that,
Square literally needed to strike gold with Final Fantasy or they
were out of business. Whatever else folks like myself might feel
compelled to say about the stuff they've been putting out lately, I
consider myself lucky that they did indeed manage to find themselves
that gold mine, because in the 90s, they did make some of my favorite
games.
When it comes to Legend of Mana, on the
other hand, we're talking about a game that came out for a system
that runs CD-ROMs, which are vastly larger than 8-bit carts could
have ever pretended to be. So even if the game lets me pick which
order the quests happen in, I really don't get why navigating in
those quests needs to be as hard as it is.
The one we're in now involves helping a
Jumi lady named Esmerelda find the jewel cores of her three sisters,
but we're not given any decent clues as to where in Geo, or the
world, for that matter, they might be. I'm just presuming they're in
Geo because there's been no indication that said gems would be
anywhere else.
The first stop here is the Alex's Gem
Store. What made me think to go there was that Elazul said that's
where he'd be. As I write this, I can't remember if we're given a
tip or are just sent to the Palace of Art to look around. Kristine
lets us take the one in her basement store room because she thinks
Jumi cores bring bad luck. After that, there aren't any real clues
as to where to go next, at least that I could find. It was just luck
that I thought to go look at the magic acadamy.
This part is one of those things where
the “day system” in the game really does factor in. The gem
we're looking for is in the principal's office, and he teaches a
class on the game's Dryad Day. For some reason, Esmerelda can't or
won't just ask the man for that one specific jewel he has in his
display case, preferring to wait until he's off teaching his class so
she can just run in and hork the damn thing behind his back. The
thing that gets me here is that when she does, we're given the option
to either compliment her or call her a thief. While I certainly
wouldn't call Esmerelda a thief here, I don't think a compliment is
called for, either. What she did may have been for a good cause, but
just breaking into the office seems a little off, too, because far as
I know, we never gave the principal a chance to refuse to hand over
the gem core he had.
Getting the last gem core is one that I
had to look up. I might have stumbled around for two hours on this
one if I hadn't, because I swear, that's how long it would have taken
me to figure out that I needed to go to the cafe and get behind the
counter to talk to the guy running the place to get that one. That I
need to go get Elazul again and go back to the Palace of Arts for
this quest's boss fight is kind of obvious, I guess, because there
are things that make it kind of obvious. It's the underwear
gnomes nature of the middle parts of this quest that make it so
frustrating.
It was a bit dumb of me to have
Esmerelda go back to the academy on her own, but then again, I don't
think there's going to be any way to change the ending to this quest,
either. So it's off to the jewel shop and then the Palace of Arts to
finish this thing.
Elazul's a bit pissed at us for letting
Esmerelda run around on her own, but that's understandable. So it's
off to the Palace of Arts. Kristine tells us that Esmerelda went
into the store room downstairs. She's talking to a statue of
somebody named Diana. Wonder Woman, perhaps? Maybe not, but she
does start beaming us all over the place when we find out that
Esmerelda's been kidnapped by Sandra the Jewel Thief. First it's
into the battle arena below the store room to kick the first Jewel
Beast's ass. I think I might have done a couple quests out of order
here, but I'm sure this isn't the first time this playthrough.
Elazul pretty much leaves the fight to me.
Once the monster's dead, we go to the
next room where Sandra rips Esmerelda's core out and runs off
herself. Our only recourse is to tell Diana's statue, who sends us
back to my place. Elazul says he's going to explain the situation to
Pearl, who likes living in my house. And with that, the mission
ends.
There's still more Jumi stuff to do
here, but I think I'm going to give Legend of Mana a break for a
little while and play Final Fantasy for a bit instead. So see you
then, folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment