My, it's been awhile since I've done
any SoM, hasn't it?
I'd like to say I'd been doing
something productive with the time, but between health issues and
tech issues, I really haven't been. I've got a Final Fantasy
Tonight post about that coming
up that I need to get finished, so I'll save it for that post.
So,
onto the game. As I said last time, I was hesitant to go forward
with this part of the game because it's the first of quite a few
areas and boss fights in the game where, at least in the version I'm
playing, things can get really cheap, especially in favor of the
game's AI. This is mostly because there are at least two Stun modes
that can be inflicted on the player characters, and sometimes they're
chainable or stackable. One is kind of a paralyze effect, oftentimes
seen when a character is turned into a weaker form, such as the
Moogle status that the Eye Spy monster can inflict. The other is a
full-on Unconscious status ailment, where a character is plain and
simple knocked the hell out, to paraphraze an old running gag we used
to use on GlitterRock's Cap-Post Page back in the day. The Mushbooms
in the various areas we've been to used that one from time to time.
All
this leaves us where we left off last time. I was going to go have a
word with the sorceress Elinee on behalf of the king of Pandora, who
basically calls the party a bunch of noisy kids before sending Dyluck
off to the ruins at Pandora because some guy called Thanatos told her
to. Rose, of course, asks why, to which Elinee explains that
Thanatos is the head of some unnamed secret organization that wants
to overthrow the kingdom. She doesn't really explain why that is, so
at least for the moment, it's pretty much the classic “Who's
On First” routine. Once all that's explained, she sicks her
pet tiger on the party. Officially, the cat's called Spikey, and
he's the first boss that can really get cheap on us, but that'd be
par for the area, I guess.
As it
works out, I had to do this part four times before I got through it
successfully. The first time, I got my party killed, but I'll chalk
that up to my having not played in a month and having forgotten what
I needed to do for prep work. The second time, I did that prep work
and saved the game after stocking up on healing items and armor and
actually beat the boss, and then the game glitched out on me, so I
had to reset. I'm not sure if the game was like that originally or
if it's because I'm playing a 25-year-old game on a system that's
almost 30 years old at this point. The third time, I got my ass
kicked again because the game's AI decided to have the damned monster
pretty much bounce between the perches it had and spam ranged fire
magic attacks on the party. That's really the best demonstration
I've encountered yet of the game getting cheap on the party. The
fourth time, I finally beat the thing without the game glitching out
on me.
Beating
Spikey gets us a Boomerang Orb we can use to reforge the Boomerang
next time we see Watts the Dwarf. When we catch up with Elinee
afterwards, she says she was working with that Thanatos dude because
the magic herbs in the forrest had gone to shit on her and she was
trading the people of Pandora for better herbs from Thanatos. Still
doesn't really explain what Thanatos's plans are, but I'm sure we'll
get there eventually. Elinee also says seeing us win has somehow
convinced her of the error of her ways, so she's giving up her magic
to live the rest of her days as a normal little old lady. She gives
us her Whip, which is the last new weapon type of the game, and 50
gold. From there, she sends us off to the entrance of the castle.
Once
outside, Rose says she's glad to know that Dyluck is still alive for
the time being, at least. How she knows that, exactly, is beyond me.
Just then, the hero gets a telepathic message from Luka, summoning
the party to the Water Palace because there's an emergency. Rose
says that she'll stay with the hero and Mickey because she knows she
can't save her boyfriend alone now, so they'll have the honor and
privelege of helping her save the guy after they deal with whatever's
up at the Water Palace.
The
neutral news here is that the closest save point to where all that
takes place is at the Water Palace, which is, fortunately, not all
that long a journey thanks to the ability to use the whip Indiana
Jones style and a warp tile that takes us to very nearly the place we
need to be. The downside is that in order to save, we have to talk
to Luka, who tells us that her good friend Undine the Water Sprite is
in trouble because the magic seal on the Palace has gone down. Luka
thinks her pal might be in trouble as a result. I think I'm going to
have to remind myself of the proper spelling of the character's name
so as not to confuse it with a similar character in another RPG that
at least used to be fairly popular in the recent past. We'll also
finally be getting our first magic. Naturally, it's exactly the sort
of thing that would have come in handy in that last boss fight.
But
we'll get to that next time. Until then, stay safe, keep gaming,
have fun, and DFTBA!
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