Let's Play RPGs I Missed! [Now Playing: The Legend of Dragoon]

[MoogleEmpMog]

Even if it's at the end of an arguably excessive chain of nested fetch quests, I really like how this dungeon plays out. Jane is a blast both literally and metaphorically, the Rocket Launcher is one of the hypest ARMs to get, Zed is always fun, the party gets an unambiguous win over a major demon for the first time (but with enough qualifiers to maintain heat for the survivors), and we replace Belselk, the least interesting Quarter Knight, with more compelling figures in Boomerang and Luceid.

 

[Thozmp]

Jane is a fun character, and like, the only other person we see actually using an ARM.

 

[Roarian]

Dungeon: Giant's Cradle

After finishing up our foray into the Volcannon Trap, we arrive back in Rosetta Town, where Jane and McDullen say their goodbyes and set off again. Our party decides it's time to handle some unfinished business, now - with both the blue and red hearts in our inventory, we can now head out to Giant's Cradle and finally finish up that golem-centric quest we've been working on for several hours now! Time to unlock those heavy stone doors to go find the sleeping giant inside, another one of the eight machines that were instrumental in defeating the demon attack that happened a thousand years ago. The enemy already stole three of them, so it's probably good to deny them this one! The entrance to the dungeon has two large conspicuous keyholes, and shoving the Blue Virtue and Red Malice into them results in the door sliding open, allowing access - no C4 needed this time.



Inside there's almost immediately a room with a save point which also contains a pair of Crest Graphs, so that's nice! After that, though, it's time for a gauntlet. This dungeon is full of traps - notable are several fake grapple points which send you falling into the abyss if you try to use them, as well as spikes in the floor which make things difficult, and spears in the walls… It's a nuisance, but interesting! There's also block and switch puzzles, grabbing crates to throw them at crystals - honestly, this place is pretty complicated compared to the previous dungeons, and is even combining their ideas. Certainly it's more challenging than that boring Tripillar. Probably my favorite dungeon yet?



Eventually, after getting through the trapped rooms, I arrive at the central chamber containing the Golem. No boss fight? Surprising! On the wall there's an inscription which tells me that the Fort of the Gods is an invulnerable machine protected by a magic seal, and this is where the lines blur between defense and offense. I assume it's describing the Golem, but it kind of works for the Photosphere too, doesn't it? Anyway, walking up to the Golem, Jack morosely observes that we were right - another one of these things sleeps in this desolate ruin! Cecilia calls it one of the eight [Powers] from a thousand years ago, and Hanpan confirms it as a weapon built by humans to fight the demon race. But what should be done with it now…?



Jack immediately decides that obviously we need to figure out how to operate this thing, since it's an overwhelming feeling to even be in its presence! Cecilia questions if the only useful thing this golem can do is to fight - is that really what Jack's trying to tell her? They're going to awaken this ancient being, which has been slumbering all this time, only to make it fight again…? Jack dryly points out that a sword is made for cutting, and a spear is made for stabbing, and just like them the golems were made for a purpose - mercy is precious, but mercy can also be an indulgence in a world like this one. Cecilia isn't so sure about any of this. Jack concludes they should just ask for input from that strange Professor, Emma, since she seemed to know her stuff back when we first encountered the golem Lolithia down in its tomb…

With no other options remaining except to look at the pretty paperweight, I escape from the dungeon with a spell and set sail back to Adlehyde - it's not far. After paying off the reconstruction committe while I'm here, I go to let Emma know that I found another golem. Obviously she's very pleased and asks to be taken straight there - we won't be sorry! She has experience from the Tomb of Lolithia, remember? Lucky for her, and lucky for me! She asks Rudy why she feels like she's the only one talking here, and concludes that she just has the traits of a person born to be in charge! Okay, time for the Filgaia Defense Force to go have a look at this golem!



Thankfully, we don't actually have to traverse through the dungeon again - in an obvious echo of what happened in the Tomb of Lolithia we just get time-skipped through the boring parts and arrive straight back at the golem's room with Emma in tow. She moves to stand in front of the huge machine and muses that she never thought she would see this while still in her thirties! We must have great karma, just like her! She's going to check it out now, she says, asking Hanpan for a hand. There's then a brief cutscene of Hanpan climbing all over the huge magic robot while Emma inspects it and takes notes, before the screen fades out for a moment to depict some amount of time passing.



Eventually Emma returns to the party and lets them know what she's found. She names the golem we found the Earth Golem - a less than imposing moniker compared to the others. Its proper name is 'Asgard' in later games, but here we'll have to do with a boring descriptor. Emma found some ancient writing on the golem pertaining to the so-called 'Fort of the Gods.' It's written on the shield mechanism located on both sides of the arms. Because this ruin is in such good condition the golem is also still in perfect working order - it just stopped in place, but it's still alive! Unlike Lolithia, this golem is merely sleeping… Emma immediately tried to wake it, of course, but it clearly needs more than a little shove to make it work! Still, when it comes to these matters, there's nothing she can't do! She calls out to Hanpan and says they'll try again!

The screen fades to later in the day, after a slew of failures, and it looks like even Emma is running out of steam. Everyone goes to take a break, leaving Cecilia behind with the sleeping golem. The wayward princess asks the huge lug why it won't wake up... Surprisingly the being answers, asking why it would get up? After a thousand years, nothing has changed. People just want to use it as a weapon! Cecilia turns away from it, and explains that she was born in a house that was a little different from ordinary people. As she grew up, she was looked after every inch of the way. What was really important for the people was the symbol she represented, and everyone has expectations of her because she's royalty. She muses to herself that people only like her because she's the Princess…



Cecilia apologizes to the golem for telling it all her problems, but she figured it might understand. It didn't want to be born as a weapon, to be treated as one all its existence... Suddenly she jerks up and belatedly realizes that the golem just spoke to her! She panics and quickly tells it that it's right - everyone does want to use it as a weapon, so it should pretend not to be awake! She begs it to remain asleep until all this is over. However, if it can hear past her voices, and can hear the cry of the people under fire, she declares it must wake of its own free will!

The localization here is a big wonky, but I think the general idea is that she asks the golem to help not because people want to use it as a weapon, but to protect the people who are in danger... to protect, rather than to attack. She's pretty gung-ho about the golem's free will, but given how she seems to identify with its plight, I am not surprised! She too would prefer the freedom to choose her own path, clearly, rather than to follow the one set out for her. The callbacks to that sequence in which Cecilia was faced with her insecurities are pretty obvious here, and she seems to be landing on the side of free will - at least where it comes to others. Jury's out on whether or not she can apply that logic to herself long-term, or if she'll return to being the princess that she's expected to be once this world-ending mess is over.

In answer to Cecilia's heartfelt pleas the golem activates, spewing steam out of its back with lightning crackling across its arms.



Emma comes running into the room again and demands to know how this happened - she tried everything to get the golem to start up, and nada! What did Cecilia do?! The Princess answers that she was only talking to the golem, and it decided to get up on its own. Jack joins them and says that he doesn't really care about that, he's just glad that we now have the [Power]! The ancient antidote to the demons! Cecilia warns him that the golem is not their weapon, though - no, instead, it's joining as a member of the party! The Earth Golem agrees, as it seems Cecilia somehow registered her voice print in the golem's memory. She begs the golem to lend its big hand for the future, one where it will no longer be needed as a weapon!

Without any further prompting the golem activates a handy elevator built into the floor beneath it, and begins to raise itself to ground floor in a scene quite similar to how Lolithia was removed by Emma - I assume the reason there was a hole for her to use was because this is how the golems are supposed to leave their 'tombs', but Lolithia's was in far worse condition and open to the elements. The Earth Golem soon walks out of the front door of Giant's Cradle and onto the World Map. Yeah, so it turns out that the Earth Golem here...? It's actually a vehicle!



You can ride the Earth Golem around on the world map like the most badass FF8 box car ever, and it has the additional ability to traverse that middle-ground level of shallow water that we've been looking to cross, since it's huge and can just ignore the tides. We still need the boat for deep waters, and you can't take it through forests either, but it's something! As a bonus feature, its shields should keep enemies away, thus preventing random encounters. Emma is rather disappointed by the shield's output, though - we can't expect much more from it unless she figures out how to upgrade it! This is a defensive golem that was not made for battle, but it can still cover a lot of ground… Time to go!

...You know, we haven't quite reached the end of this wild mid-game diversion yet, but I have to say - this entire chain of missions is utterly ridiculous, isn't it? We had to traverse a desert, then beat up an illusion dungeon and a ghost ship just to get ourselves a boat - and then use that boat to beat up two dungeons (and an entire elw-related subplot) to earn ourselves two keys, which we then used to open up a third dungeon in which got ourselves a golem vehicle... all of which are purely there so we can now traverse some shallow water which is evidently completely impassable in any other way. Never mind that we literally saw our party use a dinghy to get to the ghost ship. This is like the archetypical example of fetch-quest padding, and it's kind of hilarious.

Court Seim

You thought we were done with all the runaround, and we could head towards Arctica or the demon headquarters now? Think again! Although you can walk across the nearby shallows and walk up to the Photosphere, our newfangled golem isn't actually strong enough to penetrate the forcefield! Alas! Which means we've got to do more secondary tasks before we can finally head over there.



Making my way southwards instead, using those previously inaccessible chest-high waterways as bridges to get to warmer climates, I discover a newly accessible village - it's the town of Court Seim. I ditch our new humongous party member on the edge of the village, then head inside to see what's up…



It turns out Court Seim is a tiny settlement of orphans and various other people running from monsters, and inside one of the few houses I learn that two sisters are in charge of the orphanage - those would be Jessica, who is beautiful and very nice, and Jane, the toughest when it comes to fighting but also the nicest of all. Hold on, Jane…? The orphans are very proud of their boss, they proclaim, and want to be like her. It's unusual to call her Sister Jane, though - she's been called their boss for years! Jane is the breadwinner of this town, they explain, but they have no idea how she gets the money. Hm.



Ah… it's true, isn't it? In one of the houses I learn that a 'Mr. Maxwell' came to this town and spent his fortune on the children - long ago he started researching ancient technology in the town of Milama, but he moved here to house orphans that he took in from the wastelands, and his two daughters are the ones who take care of the orphans. I also remember to try Cecilia's wand on a stray dog, and... get a creepy response. The dog claims his whole body feels weird, that it doesn't feel like his body. Okay, that's spooky! Did you eat chocolate, by chance?



Anyway, I'm sure that's not ominous at all. Instead I head into the largest building, and in the basement of the largest building, I find a bookshelf:

Controlling a Golem: The golems are voice activated by a pre-registered voice. They can also be controlled by a musical instrument being played at a certain frequency.​

Well, the first method was evidently how Cecilia got things working, so I'm sure the second is a hint to how we get another golem later. Speaking to a nearby engineer reveals him to be Nicholi Maxwell himself, the ARMs Meister who resides in this tiny village. Long ago he was one of six who studied at Zepet Roughnight's Laboratory, which specialized in the study of ancient technology. He asks for our name, and is quite shocked when Rudy reveals his identity.



For our Rudy is actually Rudy Roughnight, grandchild of the old man! Nicholi explains that they used to call Meister Zepet the old man, and he asks how that old codger is doing these days, since they haven't seen each other in close to fifteen years. Yeah... about that. Rudy remains silent, as he (almost) always does, but he still somehow recounts his Dream Chaser days before he met Jack and Cecilia - in a manner of speaking. Because we get an actual flashback!

We first see a forest path, where a much younger Rudy and his grandfather move through the area as others pass them by. Zepet Roughnight - Rudy thought of him as his father. He was an old Dream Chaser who had raised him since infancy. We see the two of them sitting at a campfire in the woods. During their travels, Zepet taught Rudy about the life of a Dream Chaser, but most importantly, he gave Rudy a heart. A heart to protect the ones he loves!



We next see Rudy and Zepet at their home, the latter bedridden and being cared for by Rudy. One day the inevitable happened, and the old man's traveling days came to a final end. Rudy tasted the true meaning of being alone. We then witness Rudy mourning at a cross on a protruding cliff, in a shot which reminds me of a similar scene in Chrono Cross. Rudy buried Zepet on a hill that the old man was fond of, and the rest is history...



Nicholi is very sorry to hear about the old man's passing, but gets quickly distracted from his mourning because he notices Rudy's ARMs. He wonders if the boy knows how to use that properly, before realizing that the ARMs wouldn't have synchronized with him properly if he didn't. He explains that his daughter Jane is also capable of synchronizing with an ARM, but it's not nearly as powerful as what Rudy has right here…! This is the very moment that Calamity Jane returns, of course, and she's rather distressed at finding all of us hanging out in her home. Nicholi notices the reaction and asks his daughter if she knows us, but Jane plays it off, declaring that we only met just a little while ago.



Nicholi wonders why she seems so harried, but she rushes back upstairs and tells us to make ourselves at home. After she leaves, Nicholi tells us that Jane is a good daughter - and it's because of her that he can keep the orphanage running! Returning to the subject of old man Zepet, Nicholi instructs us - but Rudy in particular - to head southeast and cross the shallow sea to reach the Epitaph of the Sea Wind, an incomplete tower that was once used in the research of a flying machine. The research that Meister Zepet and Nicholi left behind there may be junk to some people, but we might find a use for some of it! He also offers us a key, and says that it might look funky, but it'll get us inside. Many of Zepet's belongings from before Rudy was born are still there! He then hands over a Wind-up Key…

Nicholi goes on to explain that the six disciples of Meister Zepet each became ARMs Meisters and spread out across the land, and they were all outcasts in one way or another - he wonders how the others are these days…? Upstairs, McDullen lets me know that he's thankful for what we've done for his lady, and that there will be a humble banquet for us later. (Probably after we finished the latest quest we were assigned, huh?)



We can also speak to Jane herself, just outside her front door, and she tells us that her dad isn't actually aware that his daughter is the legendary treasure hunter Calamity Jane - and we shouldn't tell him either, or we won't like what happens! Okay, so Jane is Robin Hood and she's saving up cash to fund an actual orphanage. This is positively saccharine. Does make feel better for that money she extorted out of us on Cage Tower, though. At least the money went to a wholesome place!



Next: Time to make Cid proud, and also have a moonlight date with Calamity Jane.

 

[Roarian]

Dungeon: Epitaph of the Sea Wind

After taking our new-found friendly golem across the nearby shallow sea, we immediately run into the aforementioned Epitaph - it states that 'here lies obscure memories of a master and his disciples.'



We can enter the ancient remains of the tower nearby, which seem like just another stone ruin… except for the weird mechanical device to the east of the room which resembles a small robotic tank of some sort. Using the Wind-up Key on it makes it work again, and the machine immediately drives off into the nearby wall and wrecks itself, opening the way.



As we enter, there's plenty of conveyor belts and other mechanical paraphernalia to signify that, yeah, we've gotten to the steampunk dungeon! There are thin pathways alongside ubiquitous conveyor belts which, when carefully navigated, allow access to a few stray goodies - some healing items, a Lucky Card, a Magic Carrot - nothing too remarkable. Eventually our wandering leads us to a doorway which leads onto the next floor, but the moment we pass through it locks behind us, and Cecilia wonders out loud if that means we're trapped in here. Jack decides someone must have locked us in, and he'll kick as many butts as required to get them out of here! That's when a blue wolf appears next to us - this is the 'Black Shadow.' Smacking it with the magic wand allows us to speak to the beast, and the wolf declares that we should come with it…



What follows is a bit of a minigame where you have to chase the wolf as it makes a circuitous route through the fairly expansive next room. It's pretty fast, so you have to make use of the slip-slidey dash to stay close enough to see what route it takes, as an incorrect path means you have to try again. Technically, keeping up with the beast doesn't matter since the route is always the same, but it'd be a lot of trial-and-error to figure it out without a guide! At the end the wolf declares that his master awaits, and Cecilia concludes from 'the vibration' that the creature was actually a Guardian - namely the only one who hasn't lost their powers. That was Luceid the Black Wolf, the Guardian of Desire! Was she the one to lock us in here…?

Leaving that aside for the moment, the next floor contains a few more rooms, one of which contains a few bookshelves with lore:

The History of Arctica: The industrial society of Arctica… a country bound in ice and snow, yet it holds its life true… The technologies found among the many ruins around Arctica have made this place… a paradise in ice. There is still much to discover in the ruins of Arctica…
The Wind Sea: The great magic of the ancient days has called the ever stretching sky above our heads… The legendary Metal Bird once traveled the Wind Sea with eloquence… Those were the days when people held the reins to the skies… Can we be masters of the sky once again?​

More implications that the ancient past had advanced technology - and given that this is the steampunk dungeon, that makes sense. Arctica seems to have been of some significance in this regard, which may explain why it was an early target for the demons to take out. The 'Wind Sea' book implies that humans mastered flight, possibly even spaceflight, in the days before everything came crashing down. I assume, then, that Emma is our Cid for this game? Someone has to be the mad genius who reinvents the wheel (or the flight stick.)

A third bookcase contains:

Erotica: Not yet!​

Heh. Beneath that small library is a crack in the wall, and sending Hanpan through it allows him to hit a switch on the other side to open the door.



Inside the room there's a trapped chest containing 'Metal Bird' - it's actually a book which contains theories and applications for a flying machine. Once that chest explodes, a new switch is revealed beneath it which opens another door - this one leads to a room with a few chests containing stat-apples. Towards the north of this floor there's a mysterious machine embedded in the wall which requires a password - 'The ones who seek the ocean wind… you shall receive the gift of flight!' The codeword is naturally 'Metal Bird', and this opens a secret door in the library room which allows us to move on to the next floor.

On the next floor there's a Duplicator doorway, behind which there's a Bullet Clip, a Secret Sign, and another Crest Graph - not a bad haul. To the south there's also a room which contains a shiny new [Tool] for Rudy - it's the [Skates]! These fancy rollerblades allow Rudy to counteract damaging floors and moving walkways, and to charge across them at super-speed in order to go against their flow.



These skates are immediately useful since we need to get past a walkway which leads to a Full Revive and another long, long ladder to the final floor of this place. (What a thrill… With darkness and silence through the night…) We climb back up past the last few floors we've gone down and finally reach the roof.

Up there I walk around the perimeter to pick up the Reflex accessory for Rudy, then make my way to a nearby room with a large machine which is surrounded by three more of those wind-up robot tanks. Activating all three of them with the Wind-up Key makes them crash into the central machine and the build-up of internal pressure eventually causes them all to violently explode.



Hanpan explains what happened, but Jack isn't getting it - could he say that again in English? Hanpan slowly explains that a great concentration of energy eventually bursts out in an explosion, and Jack is inspired by this to make a new Fast Draw technique for himself - this would be Blast Charge, which does the obvious - explode! With that task complete, it's time to head back outside and down the final courtyard towards this dungeon's final treasure chest…

An echoing voice cries out: 'Human warriors! What do you wish to carve in this epitaph? This is the resting place for the dreams of the sea, wind seekers!' With that Boomerang and Luceid reveal themselves in front of the treasure chest, squaring off with us.



Jack immediately determines there's something a little different about this new demon, and Boomerang declares that he sees the group followed Luceid's directions well! Cecilia asks the wolf in question why she's siding with the demons, but Boomerang talks over her and introduces himself instead, and says there's a little something he's cooked up for our party… It's boss time!

[Boss: Boomerang & Luceid]



As combat begins I belatedly realize my primary spellcaster is still silenced, which isn't great, but I'll manage. I focus on Luceid first to take her out of the fight quickly - her attacks deal considerably more damage than Boomerang's do, though occasionally he does pull out a whopper of a super-attack which knocks out half or more of a character's hit points. After the wolf is gone, Boomerang himself is easy enough to focus on - ARMs and Meteor Dive for the win! Magic doesn't seem terribly useful in this battle anyway, so Cecilia mostly restricts herself to healing.

After we win, Boomerang declares us 'pathetic fools, going up against the Demon Race…' Seems like our 'victory' is more symbolic than anything, as Boomerang and Luceid are just fine, and the former declares that if we want to finish him, we must attain the miracle we seek.



If we can win that for ourselves, he shall appear again! Jack points out that Boomerang was clearly just testing us there, similar to Belselk's original encounter, but his reason for doing so is murky… I assume he's basically a proud warrior race guy, like a Klingon, and he's in it for the strongest foes, the best fight - which would explain why the Guardian of Desire would stick by him. I'm guessing she got wooed by his pure desire to kick ass.

Afterwards I head up the dais and grab the 'Rune Drive' from the chest, then use Escape to get out of the dungeon and back to Court Seim. I'm not entirely clear on what this thing even does, to be honest…

Court Seim

Not much has changed in town, so I quickly head back to Nicholi's place to speak with the man of the house, and he is surprised and pleased that we found the missing Rune Drive - he never thought that it would be hidden at the Epitaph! He decides he'll explain what that thing is tomorrow, since today he's got something different planned. We must come, for his daughter is waiting! They have a little banquet planned! Jane grouches that she didn't have anything to do with this party, of course.



Everyone heads upstairs, where Nicholi goes back on his promise to wait until tomorrow, and mentions distractedly that the Rune Drive I got only works as part of a pair, but luckily he has the other one - they can use them to unleash the true power of the Earth Golem! He'll install them first thing in the morning. He'd hoped he'd come across something like this, so he could help us with something…

After chatting with a few of the orphans in the building, who are mostly just happy Jane is home, I head for her room and she admits it's actually pretty nice to see all of us again. She asks if, when everyone's asleep, Rudy could sneak out for a bit? She's got something to talk to him about.



Going outside right now isn't really an option, we can really just walk around and talk to people about how cool it is that Jane is home, so ultimately I head over to McDullen. He's standing next to a bed, and offers to wrap up the party and call it a night. This is how you progress, so I take a nap…

As agreed, we sneak out later that night to meet with Jane on a nearby bridge - have to get that cliché in there somehow, right? Jane admits she feels bad about making us hang out with her just because she couldn't sleep. She didn't wake anyone up, right? She turns to the water and admits it's silly that 'Calamity Jane' became a treasure hunter to provide for a bunch of orphans. Rudy supports her in this endeavor, because she says she knew she could count on him! She explains that they all used to live in Milama, but they spent all their money taking care of the kids, and they eventually drifted all the way to this desolate place when the money ran out. She hates this kind of life, but what can she do? Jane freely admits that she hates her father for giving people false hope, as kindness and care have no place in this wasteland. He gives people hope just to have it shattered by reality, which is cruel!



She muses that Rudy is making this journey to protect Filgaia, right? Why? For money, for fame? To be a king like in the fairy tales? Any of those reasons are fine to her, but she won't accept that it's for some noble cause like saving the world! She dislikes it when kindness is thrown at just anyone... Kindness should be personally valued and expressed only to those you care about! Otherwise she'd be hurt to know that he saved her just because he felt obligated to... Sometimes, she muses, she thinks a day will come when dawn will no longer appear…

Just as the sun rises, Jane asks Rudy to promise her that he's risking his life because he loves Filgaia - that this is the reason why he can sacrifice so much. Right? If not, she'll never be able to like us do-gooder types! Rudy is deeply affected by Jane's (rather poorly localized) words and learns his Level 3 Force power - Protector!



I've got some difficulty parsing what exactly she means here - but I think Jane objects to nebulous 'save the world' motives and prefers tangible ones like keeping your friends and family safe. Presumably this is because she feels her father gave up a lot to save some orphans, only for them all to end up stranded out here. In any case, her objection to being saved for 'obligation' echoes the way Cecilia feels about her own life, doesn't it? These folks just want to be free… I guess living in a dying world doesn't help things, either.

Moments after that heart-to-heart, a familiar being suddenly takes shape in the air - it's Alhazad! The demon declares that he tends to run into these situations a lot - see, he came here this morning because he has a matter to discuss with the pretty lady! He asks Jane if she could kindly deliver the Rune Drive rumored to be in the mansion to the demons, within three hours? If she doesn't, they'll slaughter everyone in sight in order to find it! Understood? Alhazad assumes we'll make the right decision, then departs.



Jane, not easily shocked, declares that they can't just sit there - they must wake everyone up and tell them what happened! It's kind of interesting how this tactic mirrors the one Belselk used earlier in the game - basically threatening the town into giving the demons what they want, but it's by Alhazad this time - who doesn't seem like the type to go for such blunt tactics. It becomes clear rather quickly that there's more going on here, however...

Soon the entire town has gathered together near Nicholi's house - there's a ton of sprites, including many duplicates - and he hastily explains that in the past he excavated the other Rune Drive from another ruin. Just in case, he hid that Rune Drive in the Sacred Shrine to the south, deep in the forest. A sacred field prevents monsters from entering that shrine, so he'll evacuate everyone there while our party stays behind and watches over the village alongside Jane!



Everyone quickly rushes off towards safety as the clock keeps ticking. After a while, though, Jack says that it's too quiet. Are the Demons late? Hanpan decides there's something wrong - there's no attack, despite Alhazad's warning. Jack muses that they advertised their threat loudly enough, so what's going on? Hanpan decides that the Demons must not have known where the second Rune Drive was - that's why they appeared here in the village instead of heading straight for the shrine…



Jack doesn't get it until Hanpan points out that the normal reaction to the threat of an imminent attack is to evacuate to the safest place. Where would that be…? Cecilia realizes that the pyramid that controls dimensions is in the forest to the south as well, and Jack declares that Alhazad is always one step ahead - he baited the village into revealing their secret hideout where they were keeping the Rune Drive! Rushing out of town towards the Sacred Shrine, it's time to see if we can get to the demon before things go from bad to worse!

Next: Time to delve into the totally safe Sacred Shrine to get that second Rune Drive... and maybe save some people, I guess.

 

[Roarian]

Dungeon: Sacred Shrine

Upon entering the shrine, I almost immediately encounter a villager who tells me that someone disabled the defense systems of the shrine - there's monsters all over the place! Great, just what I need!



Inside a nearby room I find a nun and several children, and one of the kids tells me she's scared - she was always told there were no monsters here! Another adds that there was a man here, and then suddenly there was a monster instead, attacking them! She concludes the monster must have eaten him in an instant! They wonder when they'll be able to get out of here, as one of them is more scared of rats than monsters, but there's also a lot of rats in this place, so eek!



Sending Hanpan at the kid makes him move aside out of fear, allowing us access to the nun overseeing the children, who informs me that the monsters didn't break in - they were somehow already inside the defenses and shut them down from there!

On the left of this floor there's a Duplicator door which leads to a Secret Sign, a Revive Fruit, a Crest Graph, and even another Duplicator so it cancels itself out a bit. Afterwards I head to the right, to a room with a few villagers - they worry if Court Seim is going to be alright, and one mentions that they lost a few people during the chaos of the evacuation. There's also a room to the south with a kid who mentions that he was hiding in this room when he saw a monster change into a human being and put on clothes - he swears he saw it! I also pick up a Secret Book in that room on my way out. It's a great upgrade for Cecilia! I'm sure that kid was just imagining things.

Next, I head to a large room up north, where I first pick up a solid 4800 gella from a barrel - I think I just stole this entire town's gold reserves. There's another barrel to the north which has another 2130 gella - that must be the silverware! Most of the town seems to have gathered in here, and one man mentions that when they first went in, there was nothing here - but then suddenly the monsters appeared! McDullen wonders how the monsters got through the defenses, and Jane mutters something about dimensions. One of the villagers expounds on that, explaining that the dimensional barrier is supposed to be harmless to humans, and perfect as a defense - so how did monsters get in? Another man mentions how he heard that Saint Centour was invaded by monsters too, and we never did get a good explanation of how that was accomplished…



There's only one way to go from here - there's a room beyond this one, and in there I find a dog. Speaking to that dog - which, if you recall, felt like its body was not its own back in town when we approached it before - makes it turn into a monster. Yup, it's Boss Time!

[Boss: Agaless]



Agaless is a big tracked rhinoceros thing with a giant fungus on its back - it's not pretty. It likes to use Arm Down, which lowers a character's defense by 50% which makes its melee blows a lot more hazardous - they're already pretty nasty on their own. It also likes to spit out supersonic bullets which hit everyone. In this fight, unlike the last one, magic is quite useful - electric attacks do extra damage and even outstrip Jack's impressive Fast Draws. Of course, putting on the Thunder Rune to summon a lightning-aspected summon is easy mode to get through this guy. It also helps that he's a slow bugger so it's easy to get a bunch of hits in!

With this monster defeated, Hanpan chimes in to say that this reminds him of something. Didn't something similar happen before? We get a choice between answers here, but if we didn't remember from our own visit, an NPC tipped us off - the right answer is Saint Centour.



A series of questions follows which ask us to sum up what happened earlier in the game - when Hanpan managed to bypass the barrier by huddling against Jack's body, proving that it's possible to get inside them by passing through alongside a human! They just saw a dog turn into a monster - does that mean some of the villagers themselves turned into the monsters which are now inside the barrier!?

As if in answer, the spectral voice of Alhazad suddenly speaks up from nowhere and says that we're smart kids - so he'll tell us exactly how they did it! See, the demons used special seeds developed with magic - they don't register to the barrier so they could pass through. After they are eaten, the seeds grow inside the body and then take it over at his command. How perfect, right? This entire town became a giant laboratory! Demons might be made of different materials, but they have the same body construction as humans; if we are living flesh, then they are living metal! Well, enough talk… it's time to hand over that Rune Drive now! He has his orders…

With that creepy xenomorph revelation in mind, which makes basically every living creature around into a potential bioweapon, I make my way around the base with a skeptical eye. I find a man guarding a door, claiming that Mr. Maxwell is in the next room guarding the treasures. He is helping by guarding the place against monsters! That's a ruse, of course - the guard is secretly a monster himself, and proclaims only Alhazad may pass! After a quick fight against a bunch more invaders, we're left with an ominous 'progress' door in front of us… Which is when I turn around and explore all the places I haven't been.



Notably there's another Duplicator door for which I got a key just a while ago, so I loot 320 gella from a barrel there and then speak to the statue in the middle of the room, which challenges Jack to a solo-battle against a bunch of weird-looking green plant monsters. Taking them down, Jack gets another Fast Draw hint from the whole mess - this one is for Slash Rave. It's time to head through that mystery door now and see what hides on the other side… after healing up, of course, because I've played RPGs before and I can read context clues.

At the end of the passage in the next room awaits Alhazad himself, who tells us that we work too hard. If we had just ignored him, we could have gone about our business. He hates us miserable maggots, who live by those pitiful beliefs. Our time has come! Boss Time, again!

[Boss: Alhazad]



Alhazad arrives with a bunch of backup drones floating around him to back him up. He tends to use eye-lasers, but he can also send his drones to attack a party member and occasionally electrocute people. He's not particularly weak to any magic, so I end up just blasting him with Rude and Jack - he's not as bulky as Agaless was earlier, but it still takes a while to whittle him down with Cecilia keeping our health up. He's honestly a letdown after all that buildup… but given that we don't end up perma-killing him here, this is probably another of those 'rematch' things like Belselk. After he's defeated Alhazad says they'll forget about the Rune Drive for now… but the party should come to the Photosphere, where they'll be given a welcome they'll never forget!

With the demons gone, Nicholi is glad to see we were successful in defending the Rune Drive - it's an ancient power amplifier, a very powerful device.



It can be used to strengthen the golem we're using, and there's no time for us to do the work alone, so he offers to give us a hand with installing it. Moving to the nearby chest to grab the precious loot, Nicholi explains that the Rune Drive is a source of pure energy that could be used for good or evil depending on the user. Let's power up that golem of ours!

Court Seim Revisit

Back in town, the people are resettling as best they can - one of the poets there mentions that they must pass on their tragedies forever... The lady at the bar says she never wants to go through a horrifying experience like that again, while McDullen dolefully murmurs that all the things we love are slipping away from us - there's nothing he can do to help us. Oof? The mood is dour.



Down in his basement, Nicholi explains that the Rune Drive we grabbed upgrades the shield mechanism of the Earth Golem - it was called the 'Fort of the Gods' after all - the ultimate machine to counter the Demon Race. It may be mankind's last fortification!

We move outside again, now standing at the base of the towering Earth Golem, where Nicholi once again explains that the two Rune Drives will restore the weakened power output of the golem, and when its anti-phasing shield is at full power it will disintegrate anything that touches it. If you think about it, that shield is the ultimate offensive weapon as well…



Nicholi doesn't believe people should possess powers beyond their control, for the history of humanity is to fight for power, and with power there is a chance for meaningless destruction. Old man Zepet used to say that the saga can be reversed, though - if that power is used to protect the precious. There's a definite difference between the power to acquire, and the power to protect! He'll revive the power of the Earth Golem for the righteous fight of protecting Filgaia!

Later, after returning to his home, Nicholi reminds us that there's said to be a ruin in the snow-covered northern mountains where a light of illusion guards against intruders. Some say that the demons live there, but it's not certain. The Earth Golem should now be able to break through the light of illusion that is probably the Demons' barrier! The anti-phasing shield on the Earth Golem is the ultimate offensive mechanism - anything that touches it will disintegrate. But we must remember that this power we possess is not ours. The absolute destructive power belongs to the golem! Nearby, Jane wonders if a world where innocent children and kind people are the first to die is even worth protecting…?

The game is really driving home this point that power for the sake of conquering people isn't right - that employing it for the sake of protecting others is how you make proper use of it. This is why the defensive golem is the one to feature as our main ally, while all the offensive golems end up being our enemies. Of course, the game then undercuts itself a little by making the Earth Golem also one of its offensive powerhouses due tot he destructive nature of its shield... and our party ends up invading the enemy in proactive self-defense. I suppose it's still protecting people, just in a 'Let's invade to prevent them from using their weapons' kind of way. Is Jack's desire for power in this game justified by this, since he wants it to free his conquered castle? I suppose we'll see which way the narrative goes...

Dungeon: Photosphere

Driving our golem back towards the Photosphere that Nicholi mentioned - I've seen it before, but it was inaccessible due to its shield - it's time to see what we can do about the Demons at their home base. We party out of the golem and approach the barrier on foot, and Jack wonders if Rudy is sure that the Earth Golem can handle this dreaded thing? Hanpan warns Jack not to touch the light barrier, since if any part of the body touches the shield, he'll lose it! Jack mutters that he gets it, and then tells Cecilia to get the golem going already - make it do its thing! Cecilia gets upset at him for treating their ally as a tool, and asks the Earth Golem for help in a more earnest tone - with a 'please!' The golem walks closer and unleashes a blast of blue energy which cancels out with the Photosphere's defenses, and Jack cries out that they call this a defensive weapon. Hah!



As you might expect from the base of the Metal Demons, the Photosphere is filled entirely with metal. It's very much a futuristic factory in its aesthetics, down to having warning signs for dangerous places to stand and handrails on the stairs - the Demons apparently have OSHA. They probably wouldn't pass inspection, because we have to bomb a few generators to deactivate trapped floor tiles which inhibit forward progress. Destroying generators is actually what we have to do on several levels here, each time opening the way to the next room, most of which only have some stray healing items lying around, or some apples. There's one or two generators which don't have any apparent effect when you destroy them - we'll just have to explore to see what those open up later? Or maybe they're just decoys.



After getting half a dozen apples from various offshoots, we eventually reach a locked door with a blue-robed figure waiting in front of it. The figure declares that the [Tear Drop] is this way. Don't we want it? Jack is suspicious of this and wonders if this figure is about to ask us to follow him? Yeah, right! First of all, who the hell is he? What does he want? The blue-robed figure concludes Jack is afraid, and he is affronted by the implication. The figure continues by stating that the one who does not have the courage to look at the truth is called a coward. A coward is afraid… Jack decides to follow the guy anyway, upset by his cutting words, when the figure declares that the Photosphere is being prepped for travel. The party should hurry up, and follow! The figure then opens the nearby door and enters it…

As we follow the figure, he tells Jack that he'll tell him the truth - they share a common goal. See, he has no intention of fighting us - instead, he needs our assistance. He declares that we must destroy Mother before the Photosphere burns away all of Filgaia!



After he opens another door for us, instead of following him immediately I head east into a nearby room where I find another ARM canister - this one contains the Twin Orbs. These weapons are getting more magic than Big Guns at this point, aren't they? Afterwards I follow the hooded figure again, which involves climbing a long, long, long set of staircases (What a thrill…) before finally reaching the top. Thankfully, at least this epic climb is worth it, because in the next room… we strike gold!

Right in front of us, hovering inside a stasis tube similar to that hologram Jack saw in his introduction, is the [Tear Drop] tool! Cecilia can reclaim her mother's heirloom! Surprisingly it's very easy, there's absolutely no retaliation to picking it up.



Afterwards, the blue-hooded figure once again emerges to explain that we just removed the power source of both the Photosphere and Mother herself. Now that the power is down, we can attack her directly! This is our one and only chance to do so - if we do not destroy Mother now, our world will suffer the same fate as his own…! Cecilia feels empathy for the mysterious figure whose world was lost, but Jack couldn't care less about that, stating that we've been dancing in that guy's court all this time - so we might as well dance the last song! Let's go for it!

So… throughout this dungeon, most of the actual progress our group's been making is because someone keeps opening doors for us. This blue-robed mystery figure is on our side, at least in as far as he wants to prevent Mother from exterminating the planet… but he knows an awful lot about the demons' base to be just some guy. He's probably a demon, especially since he mentions losing his world, but I think we can assume that it's not Zed or our new 'I live for fights' buddy. But there is a Quarter Knight who has openly doubted Mother's agenda, and admitted disillusionment with her plans… Zeikfried. He's my main suspect right now, since he would want Mother out of the picture but also has motives to keep his identity a secret so the humans aren't scared off by his demonic form, plus he probably wants to conquer the world later. His motives are likely selfish, but the enemy of your enemy…

Once we leave the room behind it's backtracking time, which includes going back down those same damn repeating stairs. There's some searchlights that have been activated since we were down here last, and entering those beams will begin a random fight, but it's easy enough to avoid them. With the generators off it's possible to head through some rooms that were previously inaccessible, including one with a save point - hint hint? The next room over has a moving searchlight which still gets you into fights. Dodging that light, I loot a Revive Fruit or two, a Mega Berry, and a Gauntlet for Jack, before finally locating the 'correct' route which leads to the next room, where the boss of this area is lying in wait… And hey, isn't that…?

[Boss: Lolithia]



Long time no see! Yup, we're fighting the golem that we dug up way earlier in the game! Now, if you paid attention during the Ruin Festival, this golem is known for its icy breath, so fire damage is going to do some great damage against it, as its elemental opposite. It uses an attack called Absolute Zero, an ice-laser, and it has a counter-attack as well, which can be troublesome. It can also put people to sleep, so equipping an accessory to make that impossible is useful, especially on Cecilia - she's the one dealing the big damage here, after all. Meteor Dive and ARMs still work but Rudy and Jack mostly end up using items to heal everyone so Cecilia can keep being badass. A slight downer is that Lolithia can put up a fire-resistant barrier which makes this strategy a bit harder…

After the golem finally falls to our sorceress, Cecilia can't believe that the golems would be on the Demons' side! Jack argues that weapons only act according to what their user wants - that golem probably got reprogrammed, but we are different! We can't be reprogrammed! Given Cecilia's earlier focus on the free will of the Earth Golem, she probably doesn't appreciate this attitude much, but she doesn't actually speak about it. Rudy, as ever, is silent on the subject, heh.

With no other way to go from here, we head to the back of the room, only for a warning to pop up in front of the door, stating that strange, cold vibrations are coming from beyond. Do we dive in anyway? This is a yes/no prompt, so I'm now a bit scared. We just beat up a boss, so what are we facing that's worse and needs a 'point of no return' warning? We enter, and it's immediately clear why that warning is there for - because the Photosphere jolts… and starts moving! The next room is familiar, since it's one we've seen half a dozen times before - it's where we've seen the Quarter Knights gather in front of their Mother to discuss their plans. This time, though, the floor's hexagonal pattern reveals only the blue sky underneath… Are we flying? Seems like we're on a freaking UFO! The camera scrolls up to reveal Mother in all her arthropod glory, still contained within the glowing stasis tube where her cocoon was placed after it was liberated from Arctica.



'I am Mother, Queen of the Demon Race…' she announces. 'I have brought countless star systems to an end, each full of life… I am the messenger of death. Beings of life! Do you come to me for judgment? Do you seek the glory of being devoured by a being of such eminence?' Without even waiting for an answer the nearly mindless entity lashes out at us. Boss time!

[Boss: Mother]



Mother is tough, as you might expect - but given that we're not actually that close to the end of this game, she's not 'endgame boss' levels of tough. Her basic melee attacks hit decently hard, while her special attacks can stun or silence party members, and she has an effective board wipe which hits everyone with upwards of 600 damage. That can be nasty if used in succession before our healing can pull through, and spells aren't terribly effective either, so Jack and Rudy are the obligatory damage dealers here, just unloading their guns and fast draws into her until she stops twitching. Back to the usual grind, I guess?

'Humans cannot do this…' Mother declares as we finally finish her off. The entire room is in shambles after the combat resolves, the stasis tube in ruins around Mother. She declares that it's terrible that Humans defeated the defeater… No, no, no! In the last moments of her life, though, Mother declares that the beauty strikes her though for the last time - this is the ultimate beauty she can experience, the scattering of self! Everything returns to nothing, light returns to darkness!



It's unexpected that the 'Demon Queen', the nihilistic ongoing threat that's been looming over us this entire time would go down like this - but at least she keeps up her weird fascination with death and extinction, since she finds a way to spin even her own demise as just another unique and exquisite experience... She will experience her own death this time! Given that we haven't defeated most of the Quartet Knights yet and some of them were only just introduced, I expect they will be taking center stage from here as foes with a far more coherent and sensible plan of conquest - which makes them a lot more dangerous than the fairly impotent remnants of this former planet-conqueror. Or, you know, she infects the lifestream and we're all doomed. Whichever.

The Photosphere shakes and begins burning down around us as the purple hues are replaced by red ones. Mother lets us know with some of her last words that the Photosphere has just fallen into the sea, and the shock that went through the vessel just now was from the sphere losing control after she let go… Nobody can stop it from sinking now! Jack cries out that they have to get the hell out of here, now! Mother cries out that the humans who defeated her are part of this journey to the depth of darkness. They should enjoy the trip as she is enjoying the poetry of the ending theme! We are heading straight for the bottom of the Inner Sea - the Photosphere is unstoppable!

With that Mother finally croaks, vanishing from the scene when her sprite thins into nothing, which looks rather weird. That's the moment Jane suddenly rushes into the room and yells that she wants no part of this! Jack is shocked to see her and asks what she's doing here, only for McDullen and Bartholomew to join her. They tell everyone to hurry, or there will be hell to pay! Bartholomew quickly explains that they saw the Photosphere coming down from the sky, and now water is seeping in everywhere… they should get back to the Sweet Candy before they're all fish food! Hurry, or there will be hell to pay!



Next: Back to the Sweet Candy and Adlehyde, to see where we go from here. The game's over, right...?

 

[Roarian]

Sweet Candy

After the encounter with Mother, we thankfully manage to get away from the Photosphere before it sinks to the bottom of the sea by scrambling on board the Sweet Candy. Captain Bartholomew admits he thought we were goners for sure that time, and Jane pipes up to tell us that she suggested they should follow the big flying ball in the sky, so it's time she started feeling appreciated around here! McDullen concludes that Jane was just worried about Rudy, and she admits that's true, that she thought he might…! No, no, no, where did he get that idea?! McDullen just says a look is worth a thousand words… Implied romantic tension, huh? Well, they've already had their moonlit scene on a bridge…

Bartholomew sums up what we know so far - we've just defeated the Demons' boss, and we also retrieved what the princess was looking for… so let's party! Cecilia agrees with the sentiment, quite glad that she was able to complete her destiny as a princess and retrieve the Tear Drop. Without the rest of them, she wouldn't have been able to do it! Thanks, everyone! Jack mentions that he has some unfinished business to attend to, that defeating Mother was not his objective. Jack van Burace's journey is not over until he overcomes his past affairs!

This is, of course, when Alhazad once again pops up, chuckling, to state that Jack is right - this is far from over! The Demon then appears on the ship alongside Lady Harken, Boomerang, and Luceid. Finally, there appears the blue-robed figure from the ruins, who dramatically pulls back the disguise to reveal that he was indeed Zeikfreid of the Quarter Knights, at your service! Bartholomew wonders who they all are, then snaps that he never gave them permission to come aboard his ship! Zeikfried dismisses that and announces that he is here with a warning and declaration - that they will take Filgaia! The demons will completely destroy the Guardians and take away their source of power, and that will be the end of the human race!



The demons promptly teleport away again, although Luceid lingers a few moments longer than the others. An incensed Bartholomew declares that he's had enough of these guys - let's attack them! Cecilia agrees, right? They're clearly determined to take over the world! Cecilia decides we should head back to Adlehyde for now, and plan out our next move…

Didn't take long before my theory turned out to be correct, huh? It wasn't a very outlandish guess, I suppose - and note that while Zeikfreid's plan still entails basically comitting genocide, it's no longer omnicide - he fully intends to take over the planet as the new demon homeworld. Given that everyone else is there too, I presume a coup happened back-stage, and that's why our journey through the Photosphere was so relatively painless - all her bodyguards quietly looked away so we could be the instrument of Mother's destruction. If we failed, at least they'd have had the excuse that it was some humans who were responsible, but if we succeeded...? Zeik's not a dumb guy, and that probably makes him a far more potent threat than dumb-ass murderblob Mother could have ever been.

Adlehyde

We pick up a few days later, when everyone has gathered in the Council Room in Adlehyde Castle. Emma proclaims that it's good to see everyone is here, but Bartholomew asks her what she wants with them. Why were they all summoned here? They were just attacked by demons - so they should be returning the favor! Emma mentions that from what she's heard, it sounds like the enemy is stepping up their plans. The total annihilation of all life on Filgaia and the Guardians' power is now their goal, and obviously we must keep them from gaining the upper hand. That's why she formed the E.I.A. - the Emma Intelligence Agency!



Jane, of all people, says that sounds rather self-absorbed, but Emma just moves on and declares that our party will be her main reconnaissance team, while Bartholomew will provide transportation within the Inner Sea. Our job is to learn as much about the enemy as we can - for to win this war, we must win the information battle first!

Jack wonders what Emma will be contributing to this endeavor, given that she's the Director of E.I.A. and everything, and she announces she'll be our ARMs Meister, as ever, and she'd also like to study Zepet's journal about the Metal Bird that we picked up earlier. Jack wonders if there's something interesting in that book, and Emma dryly points out that a thousand years ago, the ability for humans to fly through the sky was a reality. There are interesting theories on flight in this book, so she'd like to borrow it - and she promises not to write in it. I hand over the book as requested, and Emma is immediately inspired… Are we getting our airship soon? Probably.

Turning towards Cecilia, Jack points out that with the Tear Drop back in her possession, the Princess doesn't actually need to travel anymore - her mission is complete. Jack, on the other hand, has some unfinished business to attend to… Revenge, Cecilia guesses dryly. Cecilia pauses for a moment, then admits that something happened on their travels - she can't stop now. She's not exactly sure what it was, but she feels like she has to stay with the others.



So, will they still permit her to come along? Obviously I quickly agree, and Jack mutters that she sure doesn't take 'no' for an answer, huh? But thou must! We speak to Minister Johan, who is glad that the [Tear Drop] has been recovered, but is worried that the Demons haven't given up yet despite the loss of Mother. What would King Adlehyde do in this situation…?

Before leaving Adlehyde, I also swing by the hospital again to see what the latest is there - one person wonders why he would need a colonic for a leg injury?!



Another tells me that the only way people leave this hospital is… He cuts himself off there. The doctor is just sad that people criticize him without knowing what he's really like. A kid mentions that they put up with all these weird treatments because they really want to get better! The guy in the final bed says that none of the new patients have patience, but he's a pro at this! There's a reason they're called patients!

Over in a house in the corner of town, I also learn about that vortex I've seen near the Volcannon Traps - apparently it prevents monsters from the Outer Ocean from getting into the Inner Sea. Three guesses where we're going next…? Emma, by the way, mentions that her mentor was a traveling ARMs Meister - more like a Dream Chaser, really - who had a lab to the far east somewhere. I'm sure that's not important! Something to jot down as a point of interest, at least.

Rosetta Town

We sail off in the Sweet Candy, and my first destination is that vortex which was just pointed out. There's a brief scene on the deck of the ship as we approach - Cecilia notes that the [Tear Drop] is transmitting the thoughts of the Guardians, but it's very faint and she can't seem to link up with it.



She concludes that if we just knew the name of the Guardian who is trying to contact them, that'd work! From the nearby beach I make my way towards rich racist-ville, Rosetta Town, where I ask around for more information. Mayor Hernandez mentions the vortex, and lets us know that the strait which joins the Inner Sea and Outer Ocean is where the Guardian of the Oceans, Lucadia, lives. Well, that sure was easy!

Incidentally, if you go around town you'll see that dialogue was updated. People mention that this city relies on trade, but recently ships came through with reports of dragon attacks, so could we look into that matter on behalf of the village? Thanks. The people are all pretty upset about the trade problems, evidently having moved on from racism to economic concerns, and some of them argue that the Guardian of the Oceans is clearly angry at them, and they must regain their faith! Another declares that they can't have the Guardian stay mad at them, they wouldn't get any money! Where would he find customers?

Revisiting the vortex after learning Lucadia's name, Cecilia can actually call upon them by name this time, and contact them through her [Tear Drop] - the reaction is so strong that she can feel it with her entire body! The Guardian tells her something, but she doesn't convey what to the others, she just activates her tool and the entire party is promptly levitated off the ship and towards the nearby dungeon, then teleported into the depths! Bartholomew is caught off guard by the whole thing...

Dungeon: Dragon Shrine

The theme of the day in this dungeon is copious amounts of block puzzles! Pushing blocks around is how you get around this place, but do it wrong and you have to reset the room and try again, which can be a bit annoying. Thankfully there's a save point past the first few puzzles, and there's Shining Cape for Cecilia and a few Crest Graphs too, so it's not entirely without reward. Plus this game doesn't really do super-difficult puzzles much - they're all just vague challenging but a bit of brute-forcing often works if actually solving it doesn't.



After quite a bit of running around doing puzzles - it's honestly a bit tedious - I eventually finish the last of these block-puzzles and reveal the final tool that Cecilia is going to get in this game, the [Magic Vase]. This is basically an infinite supply of water, which sounds cool, but we mostly just use it to put out fires, which is another newly introduced arbitrary method of blocking certain routes. Meh.



Returning to the save point we can now use the vase to put out some fire which reveals a switch to open the next door. There's a Duplicator up here, a bit out of the way, but more keys never go amiss. Afterwards I make my way to the final hall of this fairly lame dungeon and meet the true goal of this little excursion.

After interacting with a glowing white sphere hovering in mid-air, Lucadia reveals itself as a serpentine sea dragon who welcomes two warriors and the Innocent One. Lucadia introduces themselves as the eternal flutist whose music permeates the oceans from the depths of the Dragon Shrine. The [Tear Drop] in its rightful hand called them here!



The dragon mentions how Mother has been defeated and is now their nourishment, yet the dreams of the Demon Race are not over! Cecilia asks what the Demons are planning to do now, inquiring how Zeikfried intends to actually destroy the Guardians. Lucadia actually answers, surprisingly, explaining that the Ray Line is the artery of life which connects all of the Guardians together and maintains all life on the planet. After the Guardians' strength had weakened, they decided to combine their power through a device the Elws had left behind - from inside the Elw Pyramid the network began to pump life energy throughout Filgaia. This is actually something that can be read about in Cecilia's introduction, if you're attentive...

The voice of Lady Harken suddenly speaks up - I swear, the demons in this game are just all about dramatic mid-dialogue entrances, aren't they? She declares that if they sever this Ray Line, they can clean this planet for good! She appears behind us, and admits to herself that she's not so sure about this, but if Zeik says it's fine - here goes nothing! She declares that she came here for the big fish, the Sea Guardian, but this is a pleasant surprise - she always did want to fight Jack again. They were meant for each other, both born to fight…



En garde! Let's see what we've got!

[Boss: Lady Harken]



Harken's got a nasty full-party energy wave called Guilty Blade, and can also blast single characters with lasers. Since this is another melee-focused fight (which makes sense given that this is essentially Jack's nemesis) Cecilia is on healbot duty and Rudy is just gunning down everything. After Harken goes down, which honestly doesn't take that long, she tells Jack that she guesses she was wrong about him, baby… but he should go back to his ship with a blow from her Asrael!



As she moves to strike, though, Harken suddenly freezes. She can't… move? What's happening? The battle ends, and a confused Lady Harken declares that they'll continue this later, sweetheart… before quickly retreating.

If you recall, I spoke about the true identity of Lady Harken when she showed up on the Sweet Candy to take down one of the three Guardian statues - you know, the mock wedding episode? There, she showed off that she was using some of the same type of moves that Jack does, his signature Fast Draws, and she does the same here. Jack's observation that her Guilty Blade technique resembled his own moves is actually, mechanically, the way for Jack to get the hint required to use that move himself. Harken is also actively stopped here from finishing off Jack - before she played it off as some part of her plan, but here she's clearly internally conflicted. Given her confusion, I assume that she's not aware that she was - once upon a time - Elmina the Sword Princess. That's the only thing that makes sense. We've already seen that the demons can turn people into monsters, so I guess she just got a milder version from that creep Alhazad…

After the fight concludes, Lucadia observes that he was right, that the Demons are indeed after the Ray Line… It's not easy to destroy an entire planet, not even for the Demons! She tells Cecilia to use his powers to defend the planet, then dissipates into nothing - Triton Rune acquired!



Afterwards it's time to head back to the ship, and with the dragon-god and its vortex gone, the Outer Sea now lays before us, ready for exploration…

Exploring the Outer Sea

Almost the moment you exit the Inner Sea there's a clearly visible floating bottle in the water - it contains a message that if you're level 30 or higher, there's a competition at the 'Isle of Conflict' due south. This is basically an arena mode where you have to beat a bunch of enemies in a row - we'll participate in that at a later point, but we can look/loot around. (Incidentally, does this mean that levels are actually a thing in-universe…?) For now, it's time to just pick up some random items. There's another bottle floating nearby with a Crest Graph, which is handy.



On the Isle of Conflict that was mentioned just now, in a forest to its south, you can find the elusive Isolated Guild - this is a place where a handful of wizards and weirdos hang out. One of the hermits mentions that he's been living here for the last decade to research the higher forms of magic - now he wants to share what he's discovered with everyone! He's thinking of moving his lab to Adlehyde. He's sure there is no limit to the power of elemental magic! He's willing to work even harder to prove it!



With that he teleports away… and opens a shop in Adlehyde for the second set of spells, which includes the all-important Teleport spell which allows me to get around the world a lot quicker and with less hassle. Helpfully there's a second wizard in the room who's also glad to give me some advanced spells, so I don't even have to sail back to pick up that time-saver! You can try out a potion from the witch in here, but it just tastes awful and doesn't do much else. Alas!

The actual Arena is across a rough, rocky area to the west, and a spectator describes this as a battle arena designed for a secret audience to enjoy a game of life and death. They're just trying to have fun! With the world in chaos, it's nice to be able to just lose yourself… The owner of this place is called the Duke, and he watches from a safe place. You know what you call the people who come to watch these bloodsports? Social deviants!



Apparently the arena was built on top of an ancient ruin - sacrilegious, right? Nearby, a man notes that even if he gets injured, he has to fight again tomorrow - it's honestly pretty sad. Another man mentions that once you're in the arena, you have to keep going without resting in between fights - if I have anyone who cares about me, I should go in there!

In the back rooms I find a place for people to recover from their battles, and one man notes that the arena isn't large enough - it limits a man like him to just half his strength! If he got to fight in a bigger arena he'd defeat even a mythical monster like Ragu Ragla! The man in the next bed mentions that the previous guy bit him with that big mouth of his, so he let him have it! He'd say it was a fair exchange… Among the spectators, one mentions that in ancient days there was a castle of the great King of Illusion on this island, while another mentions that the 'Duke' is just a guy called Pegucci, a scam artist! At the other side, one of the men mentions that the area around here sometimes roars like the sound of an earthquake, and it scares even the monsters they use in the fighting. It's called the King's Yawn! Another mentions that Pegucci is also known as the less flattering 'Bloody Duke.'

In the back I find a Duplicator door, behind which are several Crest Graphs. There's also a curious mirror here - more on that later, it's part of an optional sidequest. Heading down from it leads to the balcony overlooking the arena, where the Duke resides. A pretty secretary mentions that the real charm of the Duke takes a while to recognize, but it's nothing to be ashamed of… Their job is just to keep him from being bored, and to keep him company… Pegucci is glad to see I've come - here, it's a paradise without morals or common sense! Possibly one of my favorite lines? Now we should show our strength, and try not to bore him! Taking a set of stairs, we can also find a pen for various monsters, which are apparently pretty docile when not forced to fight.



Back on the high seas, one of the islands is a small one with a point of interest - it's not really visible on the world map, but if you walk around the camera zooms in to indicate there's something present. It's the Snow Ravine, which turns out to be a simple circular clearing with an ancient tablet displayed in the middle of it. 'The white snow covers and cleanses the evil… My power of snow… I will provide it to you, sorceress and warriors, if you wish to cleanse Filgaia.' Ice Rune acquired! The monument's power fades after that, its use spent. Well, that was an easy way to obtain a summon!



I also head to a beach to the southwest and come across a familiar location - the place where the Photosphere used to be! It's now just a giant crater because the whole thing flew off, obviously. Entering the crater proves fruitful, since yet another icy ravine awaits, containing a glowing orb of energy. This turns out to be Rigdobrite, the Guardian of the Stars, who fell onto Filgaia with a metal star - the Photosphere. The Guardian asks us to use its power to save the world, if we believe in what starlight is cast upon! Star Rune acquired! Really rushing through these, huh? Finally there's a deserted island to the east, where a second monument awaits like in the Snow Ravine, though this one is more desert-themed. 'I am the one who flew down from the heavens,' it begins. 'My wings no longer lift, but I can rid Filgaia of the dark cloud cover…' Heavens Rune acquired!



Next time: Time for the Forgotten Ruins, which are totally not some dude's extremely lore-significant house, as well as the Dead Sanctuary, which is totally not rather out of context for what we're currently doing...

 

[Roarian]

Forgotten Ruins

With the most obvious optional stuff in the ocean acquired, it's time to follow an eastern mountain range to find a beach which cannot be accessed from the Inner Sea. Remember Emma's hint about an ARMS Meister's laboratory out here? Yeah. Crossing a bridge to the south from an accessible beach, I pass through some woods to reach the 'Forgotten Ruins'. You might expect some imposing dungeon, or some great remnant of Elw creation - nope, this is just a house, out in the middle of nowhere, abandoned.



If you paid attention in Rudy's flashbacks, this place might look awfully familiar… This is where ARMs Meister Zepet lived! I guess that means Emma was apprenticed to Rudy's parental figure but they never met before…? I guess Emma is older than him, it could work - and it explains why Emma mentions that her master was more of a Dream Chaser than anything else! Inside the house there's an ocarina on the table, as well as several bookcases in the back with the juiciest possible lore…

No, seriously:

Old Diary 1: "Deep inside a heavily sealed ruin… I found a small life trying to hibernate. I don't know how important this will be to my studies of ancient remains, but… I will take this little life to the outside world, and dedicate this short life of mine to it."​

Old Diary 2: "The forbidden life that stepped into the realm of the gods. Is this a result of the legendary battle with the demons? Distorting peoples' minds, making fools of their lives. The realm of the gods, we should not have tread… This little life is from the time of legends. This little life uses the forbidden powers as if they were a toy. What did the people of a thousand years ago expect from this little life?"​

Old Diary 3: "This man-made child grew up among us. Surprisingly, this child knows what pain is although he was built as a weapon. If it can learn pain, then it can learn compassion. I find myself communicating with this man-made child as if I am his parent. Yes, this child is more human-like than anybody else I know. From this day forward, this will be my grandchild… His name will be…"​

Just… wait. Hold on.

Zepet. This game's dodgy localization. A creator of mechanical machines who has a manmade offspring. Zepet is supposed to be a reference to freaking Geppetto! Doh!

Which means that this vaunted grandchild, this forbidden lifeform from the ancient age of man before the Demons caused the apocalypse, they're the equivalent of Pinnochio - and that's got to be Rudy, right? We're genetically engineered? Rudy's a robot? It's unclear from what's written here, but this explains how Rudy is capable of using all the ARMs he comes across, when everyone else has to manage with maybe just one with a lot of effort. Rudy is a human-scale golem. No wonder his game keeps harping on about the Earth Golem's agency, given that we're running around as a miniature version of them! (Please tell me Rudy can turn into a giant robot!)

Just from Zepet's diaries, we can figure out the essentials - while Rudy might have been designed as an anti-demon weapon (which explains why he's doing so well against them), the eternal debate of nature versus nurture is very much relevant here. Zepet raised this weapon as a human being, and because Rudy can feel pain and experience empathy, he is more than just a machine programmed to do violence. Zepet saw that potential and nurtured it, essentially playing the role of Pa Kent raising a nascent Superman and teaching him morality. In retrospect, then, this makes the opening act of his story in this game way more tragic - because the people essentially treated him as not even human for his ability to use ARMs, which is painfully accurate. It's unfortunate that there's no scene here of the party realizing what's just been revealed, but damn. Way to dump the mother of all revelations in a random bookcase!

With that mind-blowing revelation in our back pocket, which I assume will be recounted later for people who don't read the hidden lore, I grab the nearby Giant's Ocarina off the table - there's a memo with it from Zepet, which explains that it will call a registered golem to the controller's location. Someday, it continues, an active golem will be excavated. That will be a great chance to try the Ocarina! Zepet says he can't wait! As described, we can now summon the golem to our location, which opens up places which were previously inaccessible because there was no way to drive the golem there manually.



The note also mentions that the existence of [Holmcross], the successor to the golem, built during the battles of 1000 years ago, has been confirmed. Note that 'Holmcross' is a poor localization, once again - the actual word they were looking for was Homunculus. We've got a name for what Rudy is, then. In order to fight the metal demons, the people of Filgaia made golems… and homunculi, weapons of war capable of wielding all their weapons. Even with those, only a pyrrhic victory (if that) was reached.

World Rumor Tour

Now that I have teleporting (and a dramatic realization) under my belt, I decide to go on a small tour of the places we've already been to get some ideas of where to go next from here. I'm told of an island north of the Elw Pyramid near Aldehyde with a mysterious ruin on it - sailors are afraid to get near it.



Another person mentions that they have very little evidence of where the Elw disappeared to, but the only scant hints came from the north ruins. I also hear about the Rings of Timespace again, a pathway to another dimension which nobody has been able to open. The Chief of Baskar Village has had another prophetic dream, too - hopefully a good one! Apparently she saw the future of Filgaia or something, plus the sacred land of the Guardians… but where would that be? [Sanctuary], the lost land of the Guardian Lords, is only known in legend from its name now. Nobody knows where it is located. There's also a lot of people everywhere mentioning the fall of the Photosphere, but we already knew about that…

After taking a load off in the Chief's place, which doubles as an inn, I ask her about her dream. She explains that the light that has been forgotten is awaiting among our people. The power that is derived from [Courage] is the power to conquer the past. It is the essence of the inner revolution. The power to protect the precious is the power of [Love.] The powers of [Love] and [Courage] are the powers of the west wind. The hope for tomorrow, the belief in possibilities is the power of [Hope.] The great flapping wings of Zephyr will ultimately open Filgaia's future. No matter how strong the Demons are, he has an unshakable belief in the future of this world!



Later, at the pub in Port Timney where we hatched schemes with Bartholomew way back, the innkeeper with hidden depths mentions that he found this thing called Sanctuary in his dad's old papers - in this sacred place they worshiped three Guardians, the so-called Guardian Lords, representing love, courage, and hope. So I guess the Chief's nattering was relevant after all! Unfortunately he couldn't figure out their location, but it's a good start! Elsewhere in town, I also learn that the Drake family that got humiliated by Bartholomew ended up becoming shipbuilders instead of freebooters like before - but don't tell anyone!

Out in Yard I learn that Dan, his wife Anna, and a man named Pegucci came there to get the Guardian Blade, but it turned out it couldn't be found in the Pleasing Garden. Still, its existence hasn't been disproven, it has to be out there somewhere! Dan also mentions that one of his ex-partners went to the Outer Ocean alone to raise a kingdom. I guess a dukedom is halfway there! Someone informs me that there's a cave to the south which leads to an ancient ruin on the other side of the Outer Ocean, and this mysterious cave is said to lead to the lost sacred land of the Guardians! Well, there we go, directions!



Also noteworthy is that the kids at Court Seim state that they saw a great light fall down from the sky, and they heard a voice mention it would wait for the 'Guardian Warriors' and the 'Innocent One', and some swear they even saw wings on it. This isn't abpit the Photosphere, but actually a hint to the location of the Heavens Rune which we already retrieved.

Wandering Isle

I teleport back to Court Seim and head south-east to the nearest beach, since that's about where the mysterious cave I need to find is located. A man inside the cave warns that this is how we get to the so-called 'sacred region', but nobody's excavated the ruins since there's a lake which prevents Dream Chasers from getting there. I ignore him and head in, and need to use the grapple tool to get around a lot, since it's full of small floating islands in an abyss. It's honestly a pretty straight shot, however, and there's no boss in here or anything - it's just a connecting tunnel. There's a Sioux Poncho for Jack in there and a Crest Graph, but otherwise it's barren aside from a save point.



Technically I could have gotten here way earlier, I suppose, but the Ocarina from Zepet's place is needed to get everything here - because there's a tiny little shallow lake blocking me from the ruin on the other side, and I have no way of crossing it except with a legendary golem from legend. Swimming is forbidden, and rafts are for weaklings. (This is one of the only places where summoning the golem with the Ocarina is actually required, as far as I know - and it's so it can taxi us across ten feet of water, when there's clearly places where you could probably avoid the lake entirely...)



On the other side of the lake is the reason we're actually here, which is the next dungeon: the Dead Sanctuary. Technically you can go to the Demon's Laboratory Island too, but that's the highly plot-significant one and I'll keep that for after this. You need to finish both to progress the story much, I think.

Dungeon: Dead Sanctuary

This dungeon… is something else. Firstly, we have to put out some flames to pass through into the dungeon proper. Beyond that there's three paths for us to take, but only one of them is accessible, and we need to push statues around to progress, but watch that we don't push them too far, or we'll activate switches when we don't mean to. There's a bombable wall nearby which leads to another room with a pushable statue which I can set on a switch to unlock something elsewhere - it's a whole complicated mess.



The dungeon is kind of confusing, but you can blindly unlock various doors by pushing statues onto ground switches to open up yet more things, and you'll get somewhere eventually. I pick up a Wise Slate and an Elder Scroll along the way - I guess we won't be reading that last one, lest I go blind and/or mad! There's also a Crest Graph, as if I needed more of those. I guess more advanced spell options ain't bad?

While traversing rooms with push puzzles, I come across some slates on the wall - they declare that the red glow is the symbol of the Guardian of [Love], the hot emotion to care for another. The blue glow is a symbol of the Guardian of [Courage], the power to heighten one's self. This is the sacred place where the three powers that hold the world together are worshiped. The three powers will never crumble - the shattered will is the weakness of humans. Let [Courage] reside in your right hand, [Love] reside in your left hand, and [Hope] reside within! This is, of course, a puzzle solution - the final room has several colored statues which you have to put in the right order, with red to the left, blue to the right, and gold in the middle.



The fourth statue, a green one, can be bombed into oblivion to open the door in the back, leading to another set of stairs. There's a save point down there, which is always a great sign, as well as a chest with the Lunar Rod for Cecilia. North of there I need to use Cecilia's [Tear Drop] to open the door, revealing a room filled with Guardian Lord statues as well as our next boss fight. Boomerang's voice resounds, declaring that he used to think Guardian hunting was a bit boring, ever since they lost their gusto. He and Luceid then appear in front of us and he says that it looks like they might have some fun after all… Rematch time!

[Boss: Boomerang & Luceid]



This fight is very similar to the last tussle with these two, though Luceid has learned a new high-damage move called Large Moon, so she's even more of a primary target. Boomerang also picked up a new move which is more powerful than his previous repertoire, but it only targets one party member, so keeping Cecilia on healer duty works fine for those. Lock-On Rocket Launcher blasts prove pretty effective since it can hit them both at the same time. After a while Boomerang is satisfied and decides we've gotten much stronger, and says he looks forward to seeing how much we can improve. He admits that we might be able to take care of his loneliness after all… He would personally like to congratulate us on our success, but… unfortunately, what's left here is just rock! Not much of the old Guardian juice remains. We can't defeat him until we unlock the secret of desire, he declares, as the one controlling the eternal power will always be victorious!

After Boomerang and his doggo leave, we approach the dais with the statues to loot a Goddess, Dragon, and Lion Idol respectively. Cecilia can feel the faint powers of the Guardian from the three stone statues, as they are the fossilized essences of [Courage], [Love], and [Hope] - the three Guardian Lords. The thoughts that feed them are nearly gone from the world, however, so they can no longer materialize. Cecilia is appalled by this, and the Guardians speak to her to state that if all the people in Filgaia had thoughts of courage, love, and hope then the world would not have fallen in the first place. But the weakness of humans' thoughts have brought Filgaia to its knees. They declare to Cecilia that they're ready - the image of them must be in her heart when she receives this true gift, all the Guardians' energy! Now receive the truth!



Cecilia receives the [High Guardian] Force ability, which is basically amounts to super-summoning, adding power to anything she conjures up with higher amounts of Force investment. Gurdijeff, Moa Gault, Fengalon, and Stoldark - they've all joined onto the Innocent One so she can bring light to the darkness that has engulfed Filgaia! Cecilia is distraught that it was man's fault that Filgaia was weakened in the first place, since she's always held the ideals of courage, love, and hope in her heart…

Moving past the three statues, there's another room in the back of this dungeon with a fourth statue - this one challenges Jack to a fight to obtain the secrets of the shadow sword! Jack has to beat up a weird monster in another solo battle in order to gain a new Fast Draw hint - this one's for Shadow Bind. With that, it's time to teleport out of here and head to our ship to get to that other point of interest - that mysterious ruin on that northern island - the Demon's Lab. I'm sure that's not going to spiral into a great old mess at all...



Next: Time to raid the Demon's Lab, to try and head off the next plan of the baddies...

 

[Thozmp]

Note that 'Holmcross' is a poor localization, once again - the actual word they were looking for was Homunculus.

Click to shrink...

While probably true, from what I know, the Wild Arms series apparently decided to double down on their translation and stick with Holmcross for the rest of the series.

 

[Roarian]

While probably true, from what I know, the Wild Arms series apparently decided to double down on their translation and stick with Holmcross for the rest of the series.

Click to shrink...

Which makes sense, since it's a pretty cool word to use, and more unique - though they did go back and rename the Earth Golem to Asgard to at least be less generic!

 

[Roarian]

Dungeon: Demon's Lab

Upon first entering this random castle on an island - it really doesn't stand out much - there's a cutscene with Lady Harken. The demon muses to herself that Jack's techniques looked just like hers… so who is he? Why can't she remember the battles…? What happened to her body!? Harken sinks to her knees and rubs her forehead, confused and clearly distressed by what has to be body dysmorphia, judging by her words. Alhazad appears and confirms my supposition by declaring that her consciousness is rejecting the body… Lady Harken clearly thinks too much! She's so beautiful, and yet…

Disgusted, Harken jumps to her feet and pulls out her scythe, telling the sleazeball to back off - only the souls of the warriors she has devoured will sleep in her bosom! Does he know what that means!?



Alhazad retreats and admits that those words are too strong for him, before claiming that he only came to serve her and protect the [Darkness Tear]. Harken says she doesn't need his dumb ideas - all she needs is her blade! Alhazad decides to leave after that, his parting words a simple: 'as you wish…' She and the Darkness Tear share a similar beauty, he muses, so she should take care of it… Ugh, this guy never gets any less creepy, does he...?



The camera shifts to focus on a huge black gemstone caught in another stasis tube - presumably the aforementioned Darkness Tear. Do the demons have their own counterpart to the [Tear Drop]? I guess they did have it in their possession for a while, perhaps long enough to research an alternative…

---

The Demon's Lab dungeon resembles the Photosphere to a great degree in its general design aesthetic - there's a similar industrial look to everything, though with a spooky green glow around everything, like it's a mako reactor or something. The first thing we need to do here is blow up some generators, just like last time, and soon enough we reach an elevator and head down into the facility proper. Curiously, this elevator is shown from an isometric point of view, which is an odd deviation from the norm - the last time this happened was with the top of the Cage Tower.



On the next floor there's an empty room down a ladder from which I can reach another ARMs box - this one contains the Bazooka! Beyond that there's not much to get here, so I take another isometric elevator and head yet further down…

In a room to the left at the bottom of this elevator is an Energy Saber for Rudy - so now both his weapons got an upgrade around here, I see how it is! I then head right and grab a few healing items, before entering the center room to find a save point inside. Huh, already? There's another elevator which leads yet further down. There's several odd rooms on this level, several of which contain green-skinned goblin fellows who turn out to be scientists. The first explains that he and his colleagues are working on the latest weapons - and we will be their next guinea pigs! After taking care of the random battle which immediately follows, the computer the goblin was using is left open for inspection…



The only options we get are to turn off the terminal or to choose 'Next parameter.' Hitting the latter leads to a choice between displaying data and going to the next parameter… naturally, we want to know what the lore screen has to say!

> Seven out of the eight golems have been retrieved. Implement working golems to the front lines… The model [Barbados] was found to be uncontrollable. Terminated all retrieval data and disposed of it in the desert. Much concern for the golems still posing a threat… ​

Worrisome that the demons have been that successful, but at least they don't have all of them. If we access the computer again and hit 'Next parameter' twice, the computer allows us to 'change data' instead. Afterwards, going back to display data gives us a different result than before - namely the password to this place, which is just: 'Demon Gate'. Great security, guys! Another scientist goblin explains that research with the [Tear Drop] has led to the discovery of the ultimate weapon against the Guardians! After taking down this guy as well, it's time for some more elite hacking! This terminal is hooked up to the Demon Archives, and reports that the revival of the Underwater Golem, [Leviathon], is complete, and it's equipped with ammunition so it's ready for battle!

In yet another computer room, another goblin quickly goes down, and his terminal reveals that the scientists have discovered the energy of the [Tear Drop] can be reversed to create an anti-life force! The Experiment continues… The final computer room has one last goblin who concludes we've come to take the Darkness Tear - do we really think we can? After killing him, we check his PC, and it reports that ether analysis is complete of the Demon Gate, and the Gate Generator is at 20% - whatever that means! With all the lore identified, I head towards the central door and input the 'Demon Gate' passcode to get through.

We enter into the room we saw at the very beginning, the one where Lady Harken had her moment of dysmorphia. Cecilia mentions that her [Tear Drop] is resonating with the dark crystal hovering in the stasis cylinder at the back of the room, as if it's afraid… Lady Harken suddenly reappears and declares that this is because the Darkness Tear is a fake version of the Tear Drop! It contains the darkest of souls within it! Jack rushes to the front of the party and yells at Harken that they meet again - and this time they share a sword technique! Harken agrees that they have shared many tales, but the warrior needs no words… let's let the swords do the talking!



[Boss: Lady Harken]



Harken returns for a rematch, and she is still using her Asrael along with a new attack, Magnum Fang, which can really screw up someone's day. She also has an AOE wave to hit the entire party, the Harken Tempest. She's weak to holy and dark damage, interestingly, so blasting her with Saint or Darkness is effective here, though Jack and Rudy going all-out is a pretty foolproof strategy for a lot of these fights. Harken goes down quicker than last time because it seems her power increase was less significant than ours. I guess we did do the other optional dungeon before coming here…

Harken soon crumples, and for a moment she seems to transform into someone else as she lies on the floor, someone Jack clearly recognizes - but then totally-not-Elmina vanishes along with the Darkness Tear. Turns out they were spirited away by Alhazad, who shows up to tell us that he cannot give us the Darkness Tear or Lady Harken - we'll have to come after him if we want them!



After he disappears himself, Jack is distraught. So, what was his revenge all about, he wonders in despair? He should have known… that sword technique…! Jack gains another Fast Draw hint for the Magnum Fang here, but he's too busy to really notice, telling himself that the real fool who couldn't face reality was him. He then turns to the others and surmises that they've probably already figured out what's going on, but he'll tell us when he's ready. Suffice to say that my Elmina theory is confirmed, even if nobody's explicitly mentioned her name yet...

Before I leave the dungeon, I access the terminal behind where the Darkness Tear used to be, and get one last semi-secret piece of lore: it seems the demons' current Priority #1 is the recovery of the [Ka Dingel], which was sealed away by the Guardians. Okay... I'm sure that'll make sense eventually. For now, it's time to escape!

Once we reach the outside, however, the scene switches to a nondescript rocky roadside where our party stops to watch something dramatic happen in the sky - it opens up, or we're told it does through dialogue, like it did way back during the invasion of Adlehyde, and an army of demons are coming down! Zeikfried speaks up from nowhere and explains this is the aforementioned Demon Gate, which allows the Demons to travel through space using dimensional shifts. It's useful for many things, troop transport among them… He then declares that the tearing darkness we face is the Anti-Guardian, so he welcomes us to the Gate Generator! He wishes us to have fun… I assume this was supposed to be a reference to the Darkness Tear, but it's a bit mangled again…

In any case, we're forcibly teleported away to a new location.



This will happen immediately after you finish either Demon's Lab or the Dead Sanctuary dungeon, whichever you did last, which probably explains why the scene is a bit randomly tacked on here.

Dungeon: Demon Gate Generator

All three of us are knocked out due to the dimensional transition, but Jack is the first on his feet again, waking up in a weird black-blue void of nothingness. He wonders how all this is possible, only for Zeikfried to wish him good morning from somewhere offscreen! He explains that this is the Gate Generator - we're in their Demon Gate, and in our grave - got it? It's going to be fun from here on, boys and girls, for he has us in the palm of his hand now… Appetizer, anyone?

With that he summons a bunch of weird jester demons with parasols to attack us, and while the battle that follows is pretty quick, these guys dish out some nasty debilitating status effects which make them a chore. As we beat them, however, Zeikfried calls us fools, and explains that fighting in an unstable dimension is very dangerous, since we could explode from all the energy we create in battle! We're spit out in the actual Gate Generator building, and Jack concludes Zeikfried knew that the chance we'd explode existed, and he is just having fun with this. He swears he'll chase him till the end of the world!



We've reached yet another industrial-themed dungeon here, though there are ominous statues on display around the place, and the color scheme is more ominous still, with various rusty reds, purples and greens. There's a couple Magic Carrots and a Bullet Clip for the taking, and a save-point too, so we're not totally lost. There's not many ways to go right now since most of the doors are sealed, so I end up taking some stairs to the left and exit the room - only to run into a familiar face. It's Zed! Here he is, dripping with talent, ready to do battle! We're not going to get off easy this time, he says, because we should witness his new phenomenal attack, the [Drop Floor]! He then collapses the bridge right in front of him to make it impossible to get to him. Figures.

Zed forgot that we have a party member with a Grapple tool on him, so I rappel myself across the gap with Jack and slam bodily into the would-be Quarter Knight, who complains that it hurts! What am I doing!? Jack tells the annoying bastard to shut up, and in response Zed then announces 'Operation: Hell Thunder!' before turning tail and running the hell away. Following him, we catch up with the demon just as he's opening a previously sealed door and heading through, thereby also permitting us access. For the next stretch I need to put on Rudy's Skates to avoid some electrified floors that Zed uses to try and slow down our pursuit. That would be the previously mentioned 'Hell Thunder' operation, then - mighty ingenious of him! Or so he'd argue himself.



After Zed escapes from us again, we next head over to where he previously stood and hit the switch to turn off the moving floors, after which I can go back and leisurely explore the area. Activating a grapple pillar gets us access to a secret room with a Bullet Clip, Secret Sign, and another Crest Graph. Afterwards I head in Zed's direction once again, entering a room along the way to pick up a Force Unit, which is an accessory, and some healing items. Entering the next room reveals that we've caught up to Zed, who commends us for not being bad at this - not bad at all! As I pick up some Nectar to the south, I can actually see Zed standing next to a blank piece of wall. After going around to get to that same spot Zed is gone, but inspecting the wall reveals a hidden lever to open the staircase to the next floor.



From here it's a straight shot to a set of four identical doors - three of them are locked, and all four have levers behind them. This puzzle is a little tricky, since each lever opens or closes the next door in turn, but there's a trick to it… if you hit the last lever, Zed appears to trigger the one in the third path in order to lock us in! The solution to this puzzle is to open all the doors, then before triggering the final level you head back to the second door and close the third path, thereby preventing Zed from locking us inside the final passage. 'Lucky bastards!' he spits as we foil his evil plan. Afterwards I head to the nearby save point, then get ready for what's pretty obviously another boss battle, or at least a mid-boss…

Unsurprisingly, Zed is waiting for us in the next room. Surprisingly, he's not alone - he's brought a Golem along as backup! This one is Diablo, the Crimson Hellstorm!



We should taste its power for ourselves…

[Boss: Diablo]



This golem is basically the antithesis of Lolithia - it's full-on fire elemental, so picking up some water damage is good, and we did pick up some sea-themed summons along the way, especially that sea dragon! While Diablo can hit us physically, most of his attacks are fire AOE attacks or the occasional rollout-move which can grind down a single party member in a hurry. The Triton Rune is a killer here, so remember to bring that for Cecilia.

Once Diablo goes down, Zed is utterly astounded that we've taken down this golem as well, then flees again and locks the door behind him. In the next room he complains that his defenses aren't working, and figures there's no time to screw around so he'll use his [Tempest] strategy… He then cackles and says that the humans will suffer dearly, before admitting that the door he closed behind him will open to any password - do our pea-sized brains hurt? Zed then runs off to a large door and yells for Lord Zeikfried to let him in. The humans are already here - he needs to psych himself up before he fights them!



Just like in the Photosphere, we're stopped at this large door with a mention of a great rumbling of some huge machine in the room beyond - are we sure we want to go in? It's another yes/no prompt, but obviously we're entering. Inside, in front of an enormous machine which has to be the core of this entire complex, Zeikfried is waiting with Zed brandishing a blade at his side. Zed complains that the pesky human maggots are getting in the way of his career, so they'll be condemned to death without appeal! He holds up his sword and declares that this is the power of the immortal reborn - a gift from Alhazad! Here they go!

Zeikfried swiftly cuts in by stating that this isn't Zed's caliber of fight, squirmy snake that he is. Zed is caught off guard by this dismissal, but Zeikfried just snarls at him that they can't have him running around, messing things up anymore. This world needs to be acquired for settlement, as without Hiades the Demons need a new home! Jack interrupts the speech and tells Zeikfried that he can cut the crap already - he won't be fooled! Zeikfried betrayed his own Mother because he wanted to become the ultimate ruler in her place, right? Zeikfried tells Jack to believe what he wants, but he personally likes it here on Filgaia, and he will become its ruler! They shall exterminate the humans so the Demons can rule both heaven and earth!



I gotta say, this dungeon's gimmick of it just being an elaborate series of dumb traps set by Zed is kind of great, and the fact that this dweeb just gets slapped down by Zeik the moment he tries to start a boss fight with us is great. He's fun! I kinda wish he'd shown up next to Diablo in that previous fight, though - it would have been fun if he'd lacked fire resistance (since he keeps ending up blackened) so all those fire AOE's hit him too!

[Boss: Zeikfried]



Zeikfried wields a spear named Glumzamber, which is also the name of his main attack, but he can also do thrown attacks where he does dramatic jumps, and can cast inverted rainbows which damage the entire party. Frost magic is pretty effective, but so are Saint and Darkness - honestly the usual strategy works pretty well, and the only properly dangerous thing he does is that dramatic anti-pride rainbow attack. As he is whittled down, Zeikfried declares that humans cannot have powers equal to the demons, it's impossible - he knew the Guardians were involved! He won't let them ruin his plans!

After the fight ends with Zeikfreid's defeat, but without a confirmed kill, the demon incredulously wonders if we thought we'd won? Think again! His dreams and aspirations have just begun… it's time for round two! He commands Zed to turn the generators on - output at 200%! Zed immediately warns Zeikfried that he can't do that - it's going to overload! No, that would create a…! Zeikfried snarls that he knows what it'll create: a black hole, right in this room! Zed figured as much, but isn't sure what to do. Jack has no clue what any of this means, but he tells Zeikfried to surrender already - he has lost. Zeikfried laughs at the thought of surrender. Him? Don't be ridiculous! No, he'll activate the generator, and everyone here will be sucked into the dimensional gap. Of course, he'll be sucked in as well, but he'll recover because he is the ultimate ruler of this world - he will never die here! Zed's not sure what that's about, but he does as ordered and overloads the machine…



Zeikfried lashes out at Rudy with a chain to prevent him from running, before the camera slowly pans up to reveal the enormous machine in the background which spins up and unleashes electricity, before a huge red globe begins expanding from the center. As the lethal sphere approaches the party, Zeikfried declares that there's no way to escape… So what are we going to do? We're all going on a trip to the vortex! Rudy tries to cut the metal wires tying him to his captor, but Zeikfreid laughs that off - did Rudy really think he could just cut magic silver with that flimsy blade of his? Hearing this taunt, Rudy goes for broke… and starts hacking into his own left arm instead! Even Zeikfried is freaked out by that...



As Rudy's limb goes tumbling and our hero frees himself from Zeikfried, the villain is promptly sucked into the black hole by himself - just moments before Zed follows him, and then our party is engulfed when the Gate Generator explodes all around us in a blinding flash of white light…

Next: Who knows?!

 

[Thozmp]

Rudy tries to cut the metal wires tying him to his captor, but Zeikfreid laughs that off - did Rudy really think he could just cut magic silver with that flimsy blade of his? Hearing this taunt, Rudy goes for broke… and starts hacking into his own left arm instead! Even Zeikfried is freaked out by that...

Click to shrink...

Gotta admit, when I first played this game, this was a rather unexpected moment. Sure sometimes main characters get debilitating injuries, but that usually means they are out of play for the rest of the game, but it's not like there was any set up for a replacement here and the party is only three characters, plus Rudy is on the cover, so I didn't know what was going to happen here.

 

[Roarian]

Gotta admit, when I first played this game, this was a rather unexpected moment. Sure sometimes main characters get debilitating injuries, but that usually means they are out of play for the rest of the game, but it's not like there was any set up for a replacement here and the party is only three characters, plus Rudy is on the cover, so I didn't know what was going to happen here.

Click to shrink...

It's another close parallel to its contemporary Final Fantasy VII though, what with the period in that game when Cloud is confined to a wheelchair!

 

[Roarian]

Demon Gate Aftermath

Last time around we got ourselves sucked into a black hole, and everything disappeared in a flash. We soon find our party lost together in the void, flying between dimensional layers with lightning crackling all around, while a maimed and nearly unconscious Rudy barely holds on. It's at this desperate moment that Cecilia pulls out her [Tear Drop] and focuses on it.



Somehow her prayer pulls us all out of the void and back into the real world, where we reappear in a glade near Adlehyde. Got some intense Chrono Trigger vibes here, not going to lie. Cecilia explains that she focused on everyone needing to get home, so she thought about the castle, the town - and the next thing she knew her crystal heirloom brought them here…!

Cecilia turns to Rudy, worried about how badly he was hurt when his arm was cut off - but at least he didn't get lost in the dimensions! Jack is closer to Rudy and seems disturbed by something he sees. He's astonished - could this really be… Rudy's body, his ARM… Cecilia asks him what's wrong, and argues there's nothing to worry about, since they'll get the magic to heal Rudy in time! Incidentally, this says something about the quality of the healing magic in this setting, that she's so cavalier about an amputation! She walks closer and finally realizes what Jack was so freaked out about… Rudy's body, now laid bare by his amputation, it is a machine.



Cecilia exclaims that it can't be! It's just like the Demons! Rudy is…? She struggles with this shocking realization, but Jack immediately tells her that if the two of them don't support Rudy in times like these, who will? Look, Rudy's shaking - he didn't even know it himself, did he? Nobody wants to be an outsider… but Rudy just found out he is one. He's been protecting them all along, so they should now do the same in return! Cecilia concedes to Jack's reasoning, and decides that if Rudy is a machine, then Professor Emma in Adlehyde should be able to help him. Jack figures that if Old Man Zepet was still alive, he would know much more about this… Rudy obviously didn't ask for this. He's not a machine made for destruction!

You know, I think it's rather interesting that for all that Jack is frequently painted as the apathetic power-hungry loner and Cecilia as the 'innocent one', Cecilia's initial response is clearly one of fear and revulsion - while Jack has to talk her through it, and he personally doesn't care for a second. It seems a strange reaction on Jack's part - until you realize that we recently got some pretty heavy-handed hints that his girlfriend was turned into a demon. I suspect that Jack's empathy here partially stems from his more self-serving motive of getting Elmina back. If he's able to still care for her despite being turned into the demonic murderer Lady Harken, then surely Rudy being made of metal isn't much more difficult to accept? Jack's clearly had some time to wrestle with the fantasy racism issue already...

---

We abruptly switch scenes, and witness a pretty dramatically shot image of a seriously hurt Zeikfried lying spread-eagle on the hexagon-covered floor of the crashed, submerged Photosphere - though it seems this particular room hasn't flooded. Zeik exclaims that there's no way - he's back at the control chair! He was sucked into the Gate Generator, and he thought he was going to be lost in another dimension.



Zeikfreid thinks it's ironic that he's back at this place of hatred, the hatred between child and parent! As he crawls along the floor, he concludes that if he made it out of the dimensional gap, then the others probably did too. But… now he has the dark [Tear Drop], and with that he will control Filgaia! He and he alone will rule this world, and the Demon Race will reign again!

The quiet is disrupted by an off-putting organic noise, and Zeikfried warily wonders who it is - is someone else here? The camera slowly pans up to the place where Mother's cocoon used to be, the destroyed remnants of the stasis tube, and Zeikfried seems panicked as he mutters that this must be a bad dream. Descending from the top of the tube, from just out of sight, comes a horrific blob of flesh with the half-rotten remnants of a face at the front. It's barely capable of communication, this protoplasmic iota of Mother which did not properly die. 'My … Iek… is… come… child…' it stammers out, before suddenly ballooning across the body of the fallen Zeikfried and consuming him whole like some enormous gross slug.



'My sweet Zeik…' the creature says as the scene fades out. 'From now on… me…' Yikes. Guess I was too quick to count out Mommy! Jenova just ate Sephiroth...

---

We return to Adlehyde to discover that Cecilia and Jack have transported our maimed hero there. They put him in Emma's bed for the time being while she studies his wound, but the techno-genius readily admits that even she can't do anything about this. It seems the anatomy of Rudy's body is the same as a human's - he has bones, muscles, a nervous system... They're all the same, except for the fact that everything is artificial! It's just like the bodies of the Metal Demons in the legends! Jane is also present to see all this, and she concludes that this means Rudy must be a Demon himself. Emma denies that idea immediately - no, this seems to be the handiwork of human engineering!



She also points out that Rudy feels pain - he's a machine that feels pain! Why would anyone want to do that? Jane declares that it doesn't matter, before lamenting that she can never seem to help the people she cares about… Emma tries to console her, but to little effect.

Jack says that he doesn't know how exactly any of this stuff works, but if he understands Emma correctly, then she's saying Rudy's body is the same as a human's except for the material that he's made of? His genius idea is to get some herbs from Mariel in Rosetta to helps out - those might work! Emma agrees with the general sentiment that they shouldn't give up all hope, and she tells Jack to take care of Rudy for now. The rest of them should prepare for an invasion in case the demons try to take advantage of the situation! Jane is on board with this idea, while Emma tells Bartholomew to prepare the Sweet Candy for battle!

Jack wryly comments that Rudy sure makes them work for their friendship, and Cecilia obliviously replies that, right, he's their friend, isn't he? That's why they care so much. Jane bluntly asks Cecilia why she even has to think about that question. Is she stupid? What has she been fighting for all this time? To protect her loved ones, right? Not for some cheap foolish destiny or mission in life. Cecilia should get a clue already - and figure it out! Jane is honestly getting very frustrated listening to her!



Cecilia thanks Jane for her spirited words, and admits she feels a little better. Rudy did say Jane had a big heart… Jane blows that off, then tells McDullen that they have to go since she has to go blow up a cannon or something. She's got to get rid of this rage! After the rest of the people leave, Jack tells Cecilia that every minute counts, so they should quickly go to Rosetta already to get those herbs! With that thought we set off, without a fight-capable Rudy, as a two-man party for the first time since the very early game… Not that it matters much, since we can just teleport past basically all possible random encounters to get to where we're going.

While the entire plot-twist about Rudy was spoiled a bit if you go around exploring with the boat and run into Zepet's building, instead of saving that location for a little later in the game, I think the entire Mariel subplot is poorly explained. The main characters find out Rudy is an adroid... so Jack's first thought is to get some herbs from that random Elw girl we ran into one time? Maybe if they went to her because of the connection between Elws and the creation of the Holmcross it'd make sense, but the characters don't actually know that at this point - they're just going to get medicine from her specifically for... some reason? It comes across as pretty poorly considered for such a significant plot-beat...

Leaving that aside, one quick Teleport gets us back to Rosetta. The people there are pleased that the vortex in the sea is gone, which we took care of shortly after we were last here, and the greedy bastards are already counting the money from all the new trade. That whole 'woe is us, we lost our faith' thing is quickly forgotten now that the dragon god is gone, and everyone's back on the capitalism train. We head east to visit our Elw friend Mariel, and she at least has her priorities in order, as she is distraught to hear about Rudy's wounds. Jack and Cecilia inform her about the rest of our adventures too, and she gives some herbs that will make Rudy's pain go away - it's a benefit of the living metal body that he possesses, she tells us. Jack immediately catches that Mariel clearly knows something about living metal, and he asks her about it.



Mariel responds by calling this a thousand year old sin - the metal that has a consciousness! As we surely already know, the Demons have machines for their bodies. A thousand years ago, the Elws and humans dared to step into their realm and play gods! Anyway, if this was just a small wound Rudy received, she could do something about it with her herbs… but to replace an entire lost arm, that's beyond her. No way! Nowhere in Filgaia can you recreate [life within metal] again. Maybe if it were a thousand years ago, Rudy's arm could have been replaced… Cecilia wonders what she's getting at with that, and Mariel tells us we should all follow her and go to the temple at the Forest Mound, deep in that forest to the south. The Elws left a gift there...

Forest Mound

We arrive at the place in question just moments later, with Rudy as walking wounded beside us. This time we head over to the conspicuous structure I noticed the first time I was here with Mariel, something which didn't appear to have any function at the time. Mariel now stands in front of it, and recounts to us that the Elws left Filgaia after the war with the Demons ended. They normally lived in the forest, but after the war the land was no longer suitable for them, so they created a realm for themselves called the [Elw Dimension] and used the last of their power to move their land to another dimension. They closed the gates behind them, and it became their new home. In that dimension, she says, you can still see the Filgaia of a thousand years ago, and the Forest Mound is the gate that connects that world to Filgaia!



Jack observes that we couldn't budge this structure even with a cannon - so maybe the gate broke because of a thousand years of inactivity? That wouldn't be good for Rudy… Mariel explains that the gate actually operates through the Elw's heart and life energy, because the Elws live by [bonds]. They bond to time in order to live an eternal life, and bond to the land to enjoy nature. They'll gladly give up everything to bond with those they believe in! Rudy saved Mariel's life in this forest, she claims, and now it's her turn to repay him in kind. (Didn't we just scare away some bullies...?) She then crouches down and begins to do something to the circle, and with some difficulty tells the others not to leave the mound. She needs to do this, because Vassim can…

There's a flash, and… nothing really changes, except things are now greener. Cecilia almost immediately realizes what's going on, though, since it seems the Elw Dimension is not so much a separate place but an exact replica of Filgaia, the exact way it was a thousand years ago. It's been sectioned off and frozen in time! Jack warns the others that Mariel seems to be bleeding badly and she needs treatment - it appears a literal blood sacrifice was needed to trigger the doorway...



We party up and head south out of the clearing - walking straight into an enormous forest which wasn't here before, and which is far more lively than any seen in this game. We have to pass under the boughs of these huge trees to get out, traversing the green path until we finally encounter a group of Elws, who stop us in our tracks with weapons drawn. The Elws are understandably shocked to discover that humans have activated the gate, but Jack quickly tries to explain that we only came here to ask for help. They snarl that they want nothing to do with foolish humans and that we should leave!



Cecilia mentions that we have wounded, and only the Elws can help cure them - one of those wounded is an Elw girl… Please! The Ewls declare that Mariel is the child of a criminal, so there's no reason for them to help her. We should go back to our dying world. What assholes! Another Elw says they can't risk exposing the gate to other humans, so they'll take the group to the village where Master Fulcanelli will decide our fate!

Arrival in Tarjon Village

Inside the Elw village of Tarjon both Mariel and Rudy are put into beds to recover, while an Elw healer named Emiko casts a spell at Rudy which seems to knock him out. Jack demands to know what he did, but he doesn't answer, just tells these outsiders from the dying world to follow him.



Downstairs, Emiko asks the two if they really came here to ask the Elws to use their powers to fix a young man's left arm? Cecilia confirms this, explaining that Rudy is an important part of the team, and they're trying to save the world together. Emiko immediately concludes that the battle with the Demons must have begun again. She then wonders if us humans even trust the Elws, the ones who are more like demons than humans? Cecilia says they have to, because Rudy is too important - the whole world needs him!

Emiko recounts that a thousand years ago, the Elws created machines to combat the Demons. Jack mentions that the Golems are the [absolute power], but Emiko responds by stating that such power without heart can be used for both good and evil - and he wasn't talking about those. The Elws and the human mages reached into the realm of the unknown and came up with a new technology together, and they based this technology on the Demons they'd captured. They used living metals and adapted it to human physiology, and an artificial biometal was created. This was named the [Holmcross Project].



As artificial life that can survive under any conditions, Holmcross is the ultimate enhancement to many different kinds of ARMs. It synchronizes with different ARMs, thus enhancing the psychic power of the ARM. But the Holmcross that were created enjoyed killing so much that they literally became killing machines. Was it the blood of the Demons that caused it, or was it man's lust for conflict…? Nobody knows for sure, but all the deployed Holmcross were destroyed. There is, however, a single Holmcross left. An experimental model was sealed deep underground…

Cecilia argues that Rudy is not a killing machine like Emiko describes - he has a bigger heart than anyone she knows! Emiko concludes that Cecilia is claiming that the time Rudy spent as a human being gave him a pure heart. Is that really her point? Cecilia explains that Rudy used to travel with an old man called Zepet, a man who had a kind heart, and he kept Rudy from turning into a mere weapon. Zepet was the one who kept Rudy's heart pure.



Emiko incredulously wonders if this 'Zepet' really unleashed the last Holmcross after a thousand years, an experimental killing machine…? Anyway, it's too late to do anything about it now, since the Elws don't have the technology to give life to metals anymore. Those powers were lost to them long ago. Cecilia is heartbroken by this admission, and Emiko apologizes for it, but says there's nothing they can do.

As Cecilia cries, however, Mariel slowly comes down the stairs, still very tired, and murmurs something about the 'Guardian Blade.' Jack runs up to her and tells her she must rest, but the girl forces herself further into the room and explains that the Guardian Blade has a life of its own - she bets its power could work! They should go to brother Vassim and use the Guardian Blade on Rudy!



Emiko approaches her and asks Mariel what in the world she's saying - the Guardian Blade… That went out of control and disappeared, but not before it took half of Filgaia with it! Mariel explains to the others that the Sand Ocean that starts from Rosetta and cuts across the land was the result of the untrained and unrefined Guardian Blade of Vassim. Emiko notes that Mariel stayed behind in Filgaia, alone, to pay for her brother's sins while he works to turn the Sand Ocean back to normal. They can't afford to make the same mistake again!

Mariel argues that if they do nothing, that's exactly what Filgaia will become… Nothing! If they run now, they will live like weaklings for the rest of their lives. She doesn't want to lose the bond between herself and the people who taught her to be strong! Emiko is convinced by the emotional plea, and informs Mariel that Vassim lives in the forest to the southwest, somewhere he can live without being exposed to the other Elws. He's the only one who could possibly repair Rudy's arm... and if not, it will destroy them all. Mariel then asks the party if she can come along, since she wants to share some of what she's learned with her brother, and they assent.

As we leave the building, Emiko asks if we really want to make the Guardian Blade again? It's going to take a miracle, since much of the technology has been lost to time. That evil sword… Cecilia remarks that miracles only have value if you can do it yourself! After we leave the image stays on the room for a little while longer, and Emiko comments that miracles don't occur easily, but if it can be done, it will probably be done by a human. After all, the Guardian of Filgaia is a human…



While this entire scene was full of lore-dumps and plot-critical information, I feel like there's a lot of wasted opportunity here. We're basically just standing in a random room for minutes on end reading dialogue about the ancient past... but we've already seen this game pull off cutscenes about the past, like when we saw Rudy and Zepet travelling together. How cool would it have been if we saw a representation of the Holmcross going around sowing destruction, or the destablization of the Guardian Blade, or anything from the original war against the demons? Would have made this scene a lot more dynamic, I think. Instead... text. Which, granted, I'm a lot more tolerant of than some, but it's still a bummer.

Next time: We explore the Elw Dimension, and read a weird book...

 

[Thozmp]

Rudy's body, now laid bare by his amputation, it is a machine.

Click to shrink...

I think this is why I accept the Holmcross rather then insist on Homunculus. The Holmcross are machines, basically terminators, but when I think of homunculus, I think of something more... fleshy? More along the lines of Castlevania homunculus.

But the Holmcross that were created enjoyed killing so much that they literally became killing machines. Was it the blood of the Demons that caused it, or was it man's lust for conflict…? Nobody knows for sure, but all the deployed Holmcross were destroyed.

Click to shrink...

I always figured it was making these people machines and then immediately sending them into battle that turned them into wanton killers, possibly masochistic since the can still feel pain but seemingly don't care. If all they know is killing, why would they turn out any other way?

Incidentally, I can't really recall if any other human has odd colored hair (blue, green, pink, etc.) as Rudy the blueberry kind of stands out, and I wonder if that was purposeful by the ones working on the Holmcross project, you know, being able to easily identify a holmcross from a human in case of injury.

 

[Roarian]

Tarjon Village

Now that we can actually explore Tarjon, one of the Elws reiterates that Vassim was punished for turning Filgaia into a wasteland - the sinner had to be locked up in the land beyond the forest! Another says the air and water in this dimension is the same as it was a thousand years ago, but she wonders if things shouldn't have changed in such a long time…? A dog informs me that the scariest place in the world is the [Abyss] where all the monsters of this dimension are kept. A woman concurs that you couldn't say the Elw dimension has no monsters at all - they just sealed them all inside a place far from here, somewhere to the southwest. Even the dogs agree! Another person mentions that the Life Guardian is inside the [Forest Prison], presumably where those monsters are kept, but they don't know why…



While looking around I loot a Sunbird Hat and a Blue Ribbon, so I guess Jack and Cecilia both get some new fashion today! Inside one of the houses I find a quartet of old men, and the first mentions that it must be destiny that the ancient treasures of Filgaia are finally being used - is he talking about ARMs, teleporters, the golems, or what? Remember, power without heart is evil! The second man mentions that the Forest Prison was built by the Elws to entrap monsters who manage to sneak into this dimension - they go in, but they don't come out. Not all prisoners are monsters, though, as the aforementioned Guardian of Life is also caught within.



He asks us, as outsiders, to release the Guardian, and gives us the key to open the chest within which it was sealed. The third man asks what we want with [power] if we were to receive it? The last suggests we can use the teleportation devices the Elws made to travel to any area of Filgaia, but occasional accidents do occur, and you'll sometimes end up in a scary place… If you give the device an impact, your risks of missing your target increase! (This is a hint for a secret endgame dungeon, actually.)

The Elw dimension's world map is much smaller than the main one, and it's uncanny - there's just a steep drop-off along the edges and beneath there you can only see the sky - this whole place is floating! That's pretty awesome. The Elws really did just copy-paste a rough chunk of planet and left, didn't they?



There's really only one place to go, too - we're told about several places in the south-west, but all of those lie past the ominous forest which contains the aforementioned Forest Prison!

Dungeon: Forest Prison

The forest prison is a bit of a complicated affair to navigate - it's like those endless woods from Legend of Zelda, where heading in the wrong direction can get you turned around. The squirrels don't help either, since talking to them just gives you false directions! Those dicks!



I had to look up a map to get through without getting too stuck everywhere... Beyond the confusing nature of the place, though, there's really not much to it. Fully exploring it nets you no less than five Crest Graphs though, plus chest armor upgrades for all party members. Neat! Most importantly, though you can find a big imposing chest hidden beneath some trees - it's quite out of the way, really. Using the Spirit Key from that old man in town opens it, and a blob of light comes out - the Guardian of Light!



Following that blob to the next screen opens a new pathway, and beyond it is a small pool. There, the Unicorn Guardian Odoryuk gives the Life Rune to Cecilia… and he shall cast a light upon her dwindling faith! Either in eternity or mortality, his powers are never absolute… She should take his powers, shaman! As you might have already guessed, sipping from the pool here fully heals you...



Afterwards, with a new rune in hand, I make my way out of the southern part of the forest back onto the Elw world map, though we've reached a brand new section of it. There's not much here - just a bridge hanging precariously over nothing leading eastwards, where there's eventually a point of interest in the form of Vassim's Lab. The Elw dimension feels rather underdeveloped in terms of content, I'll be honest. Did it even need a world map?

Vassim's Lab

Like a total loot goblin I pilfer the place first, grabbing a Mega Berry, a Duplicator, and a Hyper Gear for Rudy. After relieving his home of its valuables, I head over to speak with Vassim himself. The guy's just waiting for us out in the open in his cabin - he's not exactly hiding, and he's quite happy to see his sister! He wonders what she's doing here, and Mariel quickly explains that Rudy is in trouble, and kind of falls over her words trying to pack everything in there. Vassim can't really follow her quick attempts at an explanation and tells her to breathe…

Apparently we brought Rudy along to this place, since when we next see him he's in Vassim's bed, and the man is marveling at the fact that he's looking at a genuine forbidden Holmcross!



Mariel explains that Rudy needs some living metal to heal his left arm, and she asks Vassim to use the Guardian Blade one last time. Vassim immediately puts the kibosh on that idea - does she want him to crack the ground in half again? He can't take part in the creation of another such weapon for destruction! The Guardian Blade is a blade of doom! Mariel tells him she's not talking about making an actual weapon here - she just wants him to pound out some [Life Force] with those hands of his! Only he can save Rudy, only he can make metal come to life! Only he can fix Rudy with the technology that produced the Guardian Blade…



Vassim tells his sister that she has become strong - or should he say that her love has become strong? Mariel declares that Rudy shared his strength of heart with her, and she knows Rudy can change the future of mankind. That's why Vassim should make the Guardian Blade to save Rudy! Vassim admits it's indeed possible for him to repair Rudy's arm… but we're missing two key ingredients for that operation. To reclaim the left hand, we'll need the assistance of the [Life] Guardian - which we've already gotten, hooray - and in order to regulate the Guardian Blade's powers we'll need the [Illusion] Guardian. With both of those in place, he can finally apply the Guardian Blade to Rudy's left arm! Vassim says he and Mariel will prepare Rudy for the operation, while Cecilia and Jack should gather the two powers of the Guardians which are required… Incidentally, this explains why the Elws decided to lock up the god of freaking life in a box in the monster forest - it's literally an element required to complete the Guardian Blade, the weapon which doomed Filgaia! That old man in town is some kind of rebel, isn't he?

Since the rune for the Guardian of Life is already in our inventory after our trip through the forest, the one for Illusions is the only one we actually need to hunt down at this point. Vassim says he has heard of this book called 'De Le Metalica' about alchemy, and it's said that the power of Illusion lives within it. To find one tiny book in this huge world, though, that will be hard…



We must do this, though, we're Rudy's only hope! Cecilia swears they'll get Rudy's arm fixed up, and tells him to hang in there. Mariel mentions that she's heard of a library that contains every magic book ever written, so we might be able to find the book we need in there. …If this is all starting to sound awfully familiar, that's because we actually spotted the book in question way back in Cecilia's introduction - it's back in the Sealed Library at Curan Abbey!

Revisiting the Abbey is not too riveting, but if you visit Anje she knows about us retrieving the [Tear Drop], and says that it contains the warm light of life… She also claims that it gave life to not only the life of Filgaia, but also to the metallic bodies of the Demons - so they have life after all! I assume this is a localization flub, given that demons are pretty explicitly extraterrestrial - but maybe the Tear Drop is too...?



Lila mentions that the legendary Professor Dhee graduated from this school, and another student lets slip that before this was an abbey, a secret organization ruled over this building. That might explain the secret sealed library, right? Anyway, I reopen the passageway to the early-game dungeon and quickly head to the room where I originally beat up that book demon. There, over in the corner, is the bookcase with the book I need to find - De Le Metalica!

Dungeon: De Le Metalica

The pages of the book turn by themselves until it reaches a section on forbidden magic, and as our consciousness wanes, we begin to hear a voice from afar…



We arrive in an M.C. Escher painting full of floating platforms and strange staircases in an empty cloud-filled void. After getting a little way in, there's a door standing out in the open which declares that it has been closed for several hours - walking counter-clockwise around the room, going down and up several staircases, makes the number on the door increment by one hour. After several trips it announces that 'only during this hour, will the warm welcome of travelers begin' and the door opens. Tricky…



While fighting inside the dungeon, most of the enemies are pretty humdrum - flying books and vague ghosts, generally. Occasionally, though, you can fight a different book enemy known as the Necronomicon - beyond the Lovecraft references, killing it also turns it into a drop, a cool new equipment for Cecilia to use as a pretty fantastic weapon upgrade. After getting that, the next room has a bunch more books strewn around the place. The first is the Song of Earth, which dwells in the sword to become power, and dwells in the soul to defeat the enemy. There's also the Songs of Water and Fire, which share the same dramatic description.



After picking them all up I head to the door nearby, where I reach a room with a large tablet - it says that 'Knowledge is the treasure. You must engrave this into your heart if you seek the other side of the door.'

There's some stairs to the north which lead to a row of bookshelves - given the previous hint, we'll need to read all of these to progress, but we'd be doing that anyway for lore…

Book 1: Closed minds will lead Filgaia to its doom.​

Book 2: The Elws have gone to another world…​

Book 3: For a thousand years, people have torn apart the land, looking for the future they've lost.​

Book 4: A foolish woman opened the box and all the desires of the world were released. This is human nature in its purest form.​

Book 5: What do you search for with those closed eyes? This is Filgaia, a dying world…​

Afterwards I head back to the door and take the south stairs next, which lead to a set of five chests. They're all empty, but to progress you have to select the two books that don't fit the pattern - but I'm not sure what the exact qualification is here for which are the right and wrong choices. Chests #3 and #4 need to be opened, perhaps because they don't fit the pattern of the others, which are all about facts, or tell a separate tale? At any rate, opening those two and returning to the door works, and it claims that knowledge is the real treasure, it's true - it can help people, as well as confuse them. I sure am confused, but I enter anyway!

Beyond this door is yet another book - it's the last element, the Song of Wind, completing the set… except, not so fast! Along the path onwards I spot the Song of Lightning, and in the next section beyond another door are three more - the Song of Illusion, the Song of Nothingness, and the Song of Sacred. After reading all of these books, Jack opines that he should adapt all these characteristics into an attack! He's gonna give it a try - there must be a bunch of different characteristics all at once. This is another Fast Draw hint - this one for Phazer Zapp, which just sounds sci-fi as hell. I guess it does every elemental type of damage at once?

I walk over to the nearby tablet in between two doors, and it states that if I seek knowledge as guardian of the secret ways, uninvited as I am, then I should go to the left or to the right, for we shall not meet! I'm not sure it matters here, but I head left.



Soon enough I reach the same configuration again, with another tablet - this one notes that the might of the Demons is determined by the strength of their machines, so why does man follow the ways of the Demons? Will the path to the left lead to horns? Will the path to the right lead to man? We should choose the path we believe in! Obviously, we head right at this one.

The next tablet addresses us visitors to the book of 'De Le Metalica' directly, and asks what we seek in this foreign world? The ones who turn left shall receive the power of Death, and the ones who turn right here shall receive the power of Life! Guess. The next tablet mentions the [Guardian Blade]... who is this that possesses unworthy powers? To forge a future for the world, choose the left door. To take the future from the world, choose the right door! Is this supposed to be hard? At yet another set of doors, the tablet says that people always speak of justice, while using power to enforce it. What, then, is the meaning of justice? If I want justice as power, take the right door. If I want power as justice, take the left…

With the final goody-two-shoes answer given, I end up at a long, long staircase down… (What a thrill…) Once we're a ways along this path control is taken away, and we face Duras Drum, the beetle-like Guardian of Illusions, who explains that this place is the realm of forbidden knowledge, and he is the keeper of all the knowledge stored here. We have successfully overcome the labyrinth, and thus earned the right to possess the secret power of [Illusion]. We should just remember, however, that the power is a vehicle, not a driver… Warrior and Shaman Princess, we should take his powers… and have faith in what we do. With that we acquire the [Hades] Rune - and without a boss-fight, even!



Teleporting back to the Forest Mound, it's a hop and a skip back to Vassim's Lab, to quickly deliver our precious cargo. Arriving in the basement of the laboratory, Vassim is amazed to see the two powers of the Guardians brought together again - [Life] and [Illusion]... he's unleashing the forbidden powers! Is he making a terrible mistake again?



No! Not this time! The [Guardian Blade] will be forged. It's the weapon capable of saving the future, the Guardian Blade!!! I feel like I'm getting some mixed signals on whether or not he's actually making a sword or just fixing an arm here… Anyway, the surgery commences immediately, taking the better part of the day. We return to see Rudy lying in Vassim's bed again. The Elw says that he's done all he can - now, we'll just have to see how Rudy holds up…



Next: Freddy's New Nightmare, and the spirit of Cid.

 

[Thozmp]

I feel like I'm getting some mixed signals on whether or not he's actually making a sword or just fixing an arm here…

Click to shrink...

It is kind of confusing: "We need some living metal for Rudy's arm, so make a sword!" After a while I was wondering if "Guardian Blade" was just another name for Living Metal?

 

[Roarian]

It is kind of confusing: "We need some living metal for Rudy's arm, so make a sword!" After a while I was wondering if "Guardian Blade" was just another name for Living Metal?

Click to shrink...

I thought that maybe 'Guardian Blade' was a reference to the original Holmcross who were destroyed for being too bloodthirsty - it'd make sense that their supersoldiers running amok and destroying half a planet might make them hesitant to try again. That doesn't really work, though, since Vassim seems more fascinated by Rudy than anything, and draws a distinction between that and the Guardian Blade, and the living metal technology they're both based on. I have to assume it's another localization thing.

 

[Alectai]

So, fun fact, the remake has one critical difference that changes a lot of the context of what happens here.

The original version, Rudy's main weapon is a sword--maybe not a gigantic katana like Jack uses, but he definitely uses a blade with his ARMs being his character specials.

The remake? Rudy uses normal bullets form his ARM, which still fire big bullets.

Using a sword to cut off your arm? That's a logical choice.

Using a supertech hand cannon though is a whole lot nastier. It's telling that it has to go full Discretion Shot there.

 

[Thozmp]

The remake? Rudy uses normal bullets form his ARM, which still fire big bullets.

Click to shrink...

I'm never sure how to feel about this. On one hand, Rudy's use of ARMs is unique to him, on the other hand, in setting, the use of ARMs scares most others as well as something that uses up valuable resources, bullets aren't free.

 

[Alectai]

I'm never sure how to feel about this. On one hand, Rudy's use of ARMs is unique to him, on the other hand, in setting, the use of ARMs scares most others as well as something that uses up valuable resources, bullets aren't free.

Click to shrink...

Rudy still goes around with an insane arsenal, it's just that the "Hand Cannon" is in fact, his basic attack in the remake.

Bullets aren't hard to make--especially the relatively simple ones that Rudy's basic weapon uses (Which is simple enough that the game mechanics doesn't even track your supply of them, it's just assumed that Rudy gets his hands on or makes his own bullets and it only matters how many you have in your mag before he needs to resort to stock-butts until he reloads), ARMs are.

 

[Thozmp]

Bullets aren't hard to make--especially the relatively simple ones that Rudy's basic weapon uses (Which is simple enough that the game mechanics doesn't even track your supply of them, it's just assumed that Rudy gets his hands on or makes his own bullets and it only matters how many you have in your mag before he needs to resort to stock-butts until he reloads), ARMs are.

Click to shrink...

I was more thinking more in terms of the original, where bullets don't replenish from nowhere and you do need to buy ammo for your various ARMs.

 

[Roarian]

Journey to Rudy's Soul

I'm currently in control of Cecilia, so I head over to Mariel, who wishes she could do more to help. She feels so helpless, and her heart aches for Rudy… Cecilia walks up to Vassim's room to sit at Rudy's bedside, and she tells him not to close his heart - he is who he is, and he's one of us. Ever benevolent and invulnerable!



Suddenly darkness overtakes her, and she's confused. What's this? Is she dreaming…? No, this isn't her dream, it's someone else's dream! The darkness fades to reveal a town. Rudy's voice calls for someone, telling them to hurry over. Cecilia realizes that she's looking at an unfamiliar landscape, and that she's inside Rudy's dream somehow… This must be a memory from Rudy's childhood! The dire situation he's currently in must have made Rudy's psyche retreat to his childhood, back to when old man Zepet was still there to protect him…

Rudy is playing with four other little kids, and one of them declares that he's going to be a Dream Chaser when he grows up! Not like Rudy, though. He won't travel with his grandpa, he'll travel alone! The kids then start a little challenge where they each lift heavy objects, but when Rudy picks up a large box and throws it like it's nothing, they get weirded out and cry out that it's impossible. Rudy's not normal! It must be because Rudy has no parents! He's probably a monster child. The kids run off while Rudy sulks, hurt by their declarations, while a ghostly Cecilia tries to comfort him but can't interact with the memory.

Rudy walks southwards, towards his home, where he's intercepted by Zepet. His adopted grandfather asks Rudy what happened, noticing that he's alone again. Rudy apparently asks him about these strange powers of his, and Zepet realizes that the boy is old enough now to think of such things like why he's different from other children. This has some shades of the Superman origin story, doesn't it? Superpowered brat learning compassion from a kindly adopted parent when he might've been a monster in other situations?



The dream fades to black as the pair leaves the screen, and Cecilia wonders if she's lost inside Rudy's dream? He must turn to his memories with old man Zepet when his feelings are hurt… Being with the old man must be relaxing for Rudy. The scenes we're seeing are not exactly super-positive, though...

Cecilia reappears on a dock overlooking the ocean, where Zepet explains to Rudy that there must be a reason why he was chosen to possess these powers of his. It's a little difficult to explain, so he should put it this way - Rudy feels pain when someone hits him, right? The same thing happens with people's hearts. Your heart hurts when something sad happens, and Rudy can understand those hard feelings better than other children… Someone like him will need the power to protect people in the future! My interpretation is that Zepet can recognize the hero complex that this enhanced empathy of Rudy's might lead to, and teaches him all the tricks of a Dream Chaser to keep him safe.



Zepet tells Rudy that he must practice with his ARM and sword until that time comes. The scene shifts again, this time showing Rudy standing on the cliffside in front of a cross with a necklace hanging from it - Zepet's grave. The old man's voice persists, stating that real power is the power to protect what's dear to you! Cecilia concludes that Rudy's kindness comes from his understanding of people's hard feelings, and not just from the old man's teachings. Now she understands! The constant pain he has within his artificial body has taught him mercy… (I assume she means this in the sense of empathy, not that he's literally in chronic pain...)



The scene shifts again to the same town from before, but now it's engulfed in fire, with bodies all around, and Zeikfried appears within to face off with Rudy. Cecilia tries to convey to Rudy that she knows he's scared, but he should just hang in there! Rudy is not afraid of the Demons, really - instead, his fear is pointed inwards! But he is still Rudy, a dear friend, and he should not deny himself! He shouldn't look away from what hurts him - this is all but an illusion generated from his own heart! It's easy to run away, but that won't solve anything. She calls out for Rudy to come and face this!



We shift one more time to the inside of a small house, where Zepet sits in a rocking chair by the fire, with Rudy at his feet. Zepet wonders what the matter is - why is Rudy in such a hurry? Huh? Did he bump into something so bad that he wanted to run away? Zepet tells the kid not to worry - he'll get rid of anything that will hurt him. Rudy can always come to him. Cecilia tries to tell Rudy not to close his heart, but Zepet continues, telling Rudy to always stay here, where it's safe. Almost pointedly, he says he shouldn't listen to anything else, just to him! Okay, now things are getting a bit screwy...



Cecilia calls out again and the scene fades to black, leaving only Rudy and Cecilia visible. She then mentions the names of all of Rudy's friends - Jack, Hanpan, Jane, McDullen, Emma, Bartholomew, even Mariel! And… her, Cecilia! Rudy is who he is - nobody else but their dear friend! She knows that being here with Zepet is comfortable for him, but it's an ancient memory. This is all an illusion - the old man is dead!



With that statement the scene suddenly turns a crimson red, and Zepet appears and snarls at Cecilia that she should shut up - noisy little brat! Cecilia is shocked. Zepet declares he'll never let this kid go… he's never met someone with such a beautiful heart! The old man then transforms into a half-monster half-woman creature with sharp claws who reveals herself to be Elizabeth, a devil who eats dreams! Cecilia figures she is the one who's been keeping Rudy's mind closed, and Elizabeth agrees with that assessment. If Cecilia wants Rudy back, she'll have to beat her first!

[Boss: Elizabeth]



We're fighting this boss solo with Cecilia, still inside the trippy dreams of Rudy - and it's honestly a bit annoying. Elizabeth is not terribly weak to most magic, but advanced frost magic and Saint work fine. She can cast Silence, however, which is a bother on a magic character! The Lock State spell can help there, since it basically prevents status changes for a few turns, positive or negative, preventing the Silence from taking hold. Thankfully this critter is created to be defeated alone, so after a few rounds it goes down to our sorceress, even though she's physically the least capable of the bunch.

After victory we return to the real world, and find Rudy lying on the floor with Cecilia next to him. She's telling him to be strong - he's not alone! A lot of people care about him, because he cares about others! Cecilia begins to grasp that concept herself, admitting that she always hated herself for being the Princess of Adlehyde, because she thought that people would only see her as a Princess and nothing else. She wasn't being hated by them, though, it's just that her selfish thoughts were keeping people away from her. She's finally found out by watching Rudy that if you want to be loved by someone, you have to love other people yourself! With that realization the Goddess Idol she was carrying around shatters, and Raftina manifests - it's the Guardian of Love, the love that people have lost!



Cecilia's cries have been heard by her… Raftina asks Cecilia why she risks her life for her dear friend, and Cecilia admits that at first she was doing it because she's a Princess, and the Shaman of the Guardians… but now she does it because she loves Filgaia, and because she loves her friends! Raftina says that Cecilia has learned the true meaning of love, so if her powers are ever needed, Cecilia should call upon her in the name of [Love]! Love Rune acquired! This is one of the big three alongside courage and hope, so we're getting somewhere...

Later, we find Cecilia waking up in bed - she must've fallen asleep. A moment later she realizes what happened, and she calls out Rudy's name - only to see him standing by the window, fully awake and recovered. For a moment she thinks she's still dreaming when Rudy walks over to her... Cecilia hopes he won't laugh at her, call her a space cadet or anything, right? She recalls that she was dreaming a dream about Rudy… Did he have the same dream? Wow, she now knows the burden he carries!



She says Rudy is truly strong of heart, and in might… She would have been crushed by such sadness. So if they did share a dream, then what does he remember? There's just the real her, she says, not the princess… All she could think of was saving him! I'm not entirely sure what she's trying to convey here, but I assume Rudy remembers her heartfelt words...

Jack and Hanpan suddenly burst into the room, and are glad to see that Rudy is up - he made them really worry! With everyone reunited and Rudy on the mend, it's time to make the rounds with Cecilia one more time. Mariel says that she intends to go back to Filgaia after this - she can't fight, but the least she can do is try to protect our home! Vassim tells us that Rudy is unaware of the powers that sleep inside him, but once he accepts himself for what he is, that power will awaken...



He asks to talk to Rudy directly. Swapping him to the front of the party, Vassim explains to Rudy that his body is not human - that's just the truth. If he can accept this fact and grow beyond it, he will be able to produce unbelievable power from his ARMs. Synchronization beyond normal limits will produce a runaway destructive force, but he knows Rudy will use this power wisely… He begs Rudy to bring the future to us! With those words, Rudy's ultimate Force power, Fury Shot, is now unlocked. Big Boom.

Vassim continues by explaining that Rudy's body represents a past that the Elws are trying to forget - the war with the Demons, the Holmcross Project, and the Guardian Blade… Rudy is Pandora's Box, but he's also the one who saved Vassim… not the other way around. Vassim knows if you keep running away from things, you'll never solve anything. (I suppose he sees using the living metal for good to potentially save the world makes up for his little fuckup the last time around which annihilated half a planet. Oops.)



Before we leave, there's some unfinished business to deal with, too - there's one large crate behind Vassim's Lab which we couldn't mess with earlier, because we were lacking Rudy's bombs. Now that he's back in the party, it's time to blow it up and retrieve a Secret Tool, which we'll deliver to someone shortly…

Somebody Stop This Crazy Professor!

Afterwards we teleport back to the Forest Mound and back to Filgaia. Mariel leaves the party, and says she'll go back to town to continue her work in reforesting the land. Not out of guilt, but out of love. She wants to do what she can to save Filgaia, a land full of wonderful people. She thanks everyone for changing her life, then departs. As we got follow, we're intercepted by Jane and McDullen, who tells us we're late - where the hell were we, anyway? McDullen claims Jane was worried, but she no-sells it. She instead announces that there's something important going on at Adlehyde Castle, and we need to get back there ASAP!



We see a cutscene of the entire group making their way down a road, and Jane says she's never seen anything like it - it's incredible! Jack, impatient, asks her what the hell she's talking about. What's so incredible? Jane explains that Professor Emma's invention is finished! The Flight Machine is done! That strange-looking contraption in her lab actually flies!

Cecilia is perplexed, while Hanpan notes that a thousand years ago there was a vehicle which could travel to the stars - but how can you fly with current technology? Jane admits she has no idea how it works, but Emma has been researching flight mechanisms for a long time - the Emma Motor was invented for this purpose! For a long time she said it didn't have enough power to fly yet, but… Jack wonders what changed, but Jane's not sure - it was a lot of information to digest. Speaking of digestion, apparently she was checking out the Earth Golem's stomach while they were gone… Now, we had better hurry back or we'll miss the test flight!

The screen pans to a new perspective, where we see Adlehyde Castle in the distance, surrounded by the vast wastelands of Filgaia. Apparently that crazy captain Bartholomew is going to be the test pilot, but he's scared of heights. Imagine that, a grown man whining and crying! Cecilia points in the distance as a red shape careens through the skies, flying under its own power… until it smashes into the ground in a big explosion. OH SHI- That crazy captain!



We return to the Adlehyde Castle's conference room, where Emma admits that what just happened was scary - they didn't have enough power to maneuver in the upper atmosphere, so they'll need to start on modifications right away. Anyway, she turns to Rudy and says it's good to see him up and about again! Jane inquires after Bartholomew, and Emma answers that there's always a price to pay for progress! They should all go and visit him in the hospital later… First, though, she wants us all to meet someone!

That's when Anje enters - that woman from Curan Abbey. Before introductions are even made, she places a rock on the table - this, Cecilia realizes, is the Guard Stone which reacted to the Tear Drop back during Cecilia's introduction! What? Anje explains there is instability in the Guardian's energy, so the stone is reacting very erratically… There's some problem to the southeast, far away… She'll continue her observations, but she's not sure if something is happening with the Guardians.



Emma can't confirm that either, but says it's worth a look - but to get there, they must use…! Jane muses that it's not complete yet, and Emma agrees - if only they had the ancient Gemini Circuits, then they could increase the power of the Emma Motor! They'd need a pair of them for it to work, though…

Time for side-questing to get a better airship! For this quest, she decides we should split up into two teams. Jane's team will take to the sea with the captain after fetching him from the hospital, while Rudy and the gang use the prototype versions of the new machine that she's created for them. She tells Rudy to come along, and she'll show him her new secret laboratory… Jack wonders where it could be, and Emma says that nobody knows - that's why it's called a secret! The scene shifts to a darkened hall with a vague shape in the middle and half a dozen people standing around it. Cecilia is amazed that there's a secret facility underneath Adlehyde Castle, while Hanpan wonders if this isn't illegal? Someone stop this crazy professor!



Emma admits she wasn't sure what she was getting into, so she didn't actually bother getting a permit. Okay, light it up! Several spotlights turn on to reveal the machine in the center of the room - it's a flying machine that's part rocket, part throwing dart, and part airplane. This is the surprise - the result of Zepet's studies of the theory of flight and the [Metal Bird], and her own Emma Motor! She was able to create this flying machine by combining the two technologies, and at last her dream is finally becoming a reality!



She's going to name it the 'Gull Wing', after the wing of the Holy Bird. But, no, this is just a prototype… so how about the [Protowing]? Jack complains that they're all cheering over a prototype here - but it can't even fly, they saw it crash! Emma argues that as long as you don't get caught in a high altitude jet stream you'll be okay. Hanpan isn't convinced, but Emma tells him that in this world you can only count on two things - their love of Filgaia and Emma's technology!

Emma explains that in order to complete her technology, which would allow the Protowing to fly even at great heights, she'll need a pair of Gemini Circuits. Gemini means twins, you see. They won't work until they bring both together! (Sensing a pattern here...) She says Jane's group will go by sea while Rudy's will go by air - and they should each get back as soon as they find what they need! Emma asks after the repair status of the airship, and is told it's ready to go at any time. She also mentions that the men helping her might be familiar - they're the same people that helped out with the Lolithia dig, see? One of them calls Emma a slave driver, but she just snaps at him to send the vessel up to the surface...

With an animation recycled from lifting the golems out of their ruins, the Protowing is slowly elevated upwards from its position, heading down the track and into the light… Outside, on the world map, a massive chunk of the earth the size of the entire castle opens up - a secret hatch which reveals the Protowing inside.


Next: We'll take our airship for a spin, and hunt down parts to make it even cooler!

 

[Thozmp]

The real question, did Emma find this underground facility, or did she make it? I can totally believe the latter...

 

[Roarian]

Dungeon: Heaven's Corridor

Airship get! To ride the Protowing, Emma explains, is as simple as walking up to the thing and pressing the A button. Landing is also simple - it's the B button, though it won't work over forests or water. Since it's a prototype, it also doesn't have enough power to fly over mountains, because it needs to stay low lest we have an accident like the good Captain. Right! So, while we could look into rumors of where to find the Gemini Circuits, right now I'm more interested in just exploring a bit with this plane… which is honestly not that exciting, since the plane is mostly just a cool Mode 7 way to get places, and a lot quicker than the ship. Most locations were already possible to reach through other means. In flight, incidentally, two bird-like wings and a tail assembly unfold, to make it look more like an actual plane:



There are a few places which can only be reached with the Protowing (and, of course, a couple that require the fully completed Gull Wing.) One of those spots is actually quite close to Adlehyde, found by clinging close to the mountains and across the water to a secluded valley surrounded by water and mountains without a beach in sight. A few people in town give hints that this place exists, too. There, we can find one of the few optional dungeons before we reach endgame: Heaven Corridor!

To even get in here, you need to use a Duplicator on the door, then use the [Tear Drop] to open a secret door much like the one to the Sealed Library. It won't shock you to learn that this is very much a Cecilia-focused dungeon, then.



On a plaque we learn that Heaven's Corridor is a tower of gifts to those who want to attain higher magic from the Mage Dhee - we've previously learned he's basically Merlin, and has figured out how to multi-cast spells. Beyond the door we reach a brightly colored place with floating platforms and ladders in mid-air - this is becoming a bit of a theme. Most of this place seems crumbled, but there's a thin path in which leads to a bookcase.

To the Inheritor of Wisdom: Why do you seek higher magic? If you want to bring light to the world, then go to the hidden nature of the obscured place… There, the innocent must cast its light.​

In the corner of the room there's a pot, and on the bottom is a button - pushing it makes a noise which indicates that a door was unlocked somewhere to the west. Making my way over there, I find a room with a couple more bookcases:

Pandemonium: There is an ancient Demon Castle located on the east end of the Inner Sea. The smell of a thousand year old evil still lingers on the desolate isle.
Magic of the Warding: You can ward off unwanted guests by using magic that sends them back to the entrance. If you seek higher magic, you should undo this warding gate…​

Note that this same room has several warding traps on the floor that send you back to the start, as per that last book - you need to hug the wall to get past them. Nearby there's also a Duplicator door with a couple more Crest Graphs behind it. Anyway, after wall-hugging through another trapped room we reach open air again. There's a Nectar to grab here, and there's yet another long ladder (what a thrill...) that leads further up. A third and final Duplicator door awaits, which is required to progress, and there's a couple more Crest Graphs to grab here with the help of Hanpan. After skipping another trapped door, the most frustrating yet given the distance you need to walk again to get back here, it's easy enough to find another ladder upwards.

We've arrived in a puzzle room - there's a crystal which moves in the exact opposite way that you do, so the trick here is to lodge it in a place which is different from the other side, so the symmetry can be broken and the crystal can be touched, at which point the door opens. There's actually three of these puzzles in succession, and they're a bit of trial and error to actually solve, but each have a 'sticky' spot as such where you can keep the crystal stuck for a while as you approach. Rudy's skates are also necessary here, since there's several conveyor belt walkways to impede your movement.



Moving up another staircase after the last of these puzzles, we finally arrive at the end of the challenge, where we need to use the Tear Drop in between two conspicuous trees. I guess 'the hidden nature of the obscured place' is code for standing in the shadow of trees? We summon up the owner of this place, and his name is Dhee!

The vaunted wizard shows up in ghostly form, and declares that finally his successor has arrived - many trials have proven her worth, so Cecilia shall now receive the art of the ultimate sorcery! But he must warn her that she should not drown herself in this power, for the essence of sorcery is not the size or the effect of a spell, but in the utilization of wisdom. She must purify her magic through wisdom!



As his successor, she shall master the elements through purity and execution. With that, Cecilia gains her ultimate Force ability 'Dual Cast', which is as potent as it sounds, allowing her to stack spells. Cool! With this little venture finished, it's time to Escape and grab the Protowing once more…

Dungeon: Gemini's Corpse

While we could be boring and get more hints from civilians, flying around in the Protowing until we see places that weren't accessible before also works - and that's how I come across a place in the far southeast known as 'Gemini's Corpse', which seems like it's probably related to our current quest for a Gemini Circuit. You know, I have a vague inkling that's the case, I'm not sure why? I need to park the Protowing a little ways away since the rough mountainous terrain is not suitable for landing.



Inside the ruin there's a cracked wall, so a bomb from Rudy is all that's necessary to break in. There's a chest in there, and opening it causes the voice of Equitus to declare to the two warriors and the sorceress that he is the Guardian of the Sword! He then explains that his will and his powers have actually been separated, such that his powers are sealed elsewhere in a temple surrounded by an imposing mountain range. As payment for help in reclaiming his powers, Equitus offers us the secret of his sword technique! Jack's heart then fills with the images of the sword of Equitus, and he gains another Fast Draw hint - this one's for Cosmic Nova.

After that, it's time to go back to the previous room and take the stairs instead to actually progress into the dungeon proper… And no, the dungeon where the sword Guardian's powers are kept isn't this one… That'd be too easy, wouldn't it? After skipping a door which is really a trap, I bomb another wall to open an actual way forward. There a couple fires need dousing with the vase, but beyond that the coast is clear. The gimmick of this dungeon is that you're playing fetch with jewels - you can go up to a sarcophagus and take its jewel, then bomb another wall to get to another sarcophagus with a second jewel.



Sometimes putting these jewels into a sarcophagus without one will activate something, or open a new path, but removing it will reset the situation. Behind another cracked wall there's a sarcophagus which causes a set of stairs to appear that lead to Rudy's next ARM upgrade - the Phaser. We're getting Star Trek in here! On my way back, I naturally retrieve that jewel now that its purpose has been served. I also pick up the Black Pass in the same room as a Crest Graph - that'll come in handy later!

Further south there's another sarcophagus which is missing a jewel - inserting one unlocks a staircase that heads down further. Downstairs there's two more sarcophagi blocked by flames, and I douse them to grab both of their jewels as well, then head back out and retrieve the third I used to get in there so I've got four in total. Suffice to say that there's several more such floors where you need to juggle the jewels and remember to take back any that aren't absolutely necessary to progress, grabbing items along the way.

I eventually pass a save point, and from there it's only a short way to the final rooms. Here, without any fanfare, I also find Rudy's final [tool], the Power Glove - it's so bad! It allows Rudy to move giant objects, break walls, and just generally punch things. Those heavy objects just so happen to include sarcophagi.



In a nearby room there's two sarcophagi with explosive chests on top of them, and a pair of breakable walls. Using the Power Glove on the sarcophagi knocks down the chests, revealing a Duplicator and an Ambrosia inside. Destroying the walls with bombs reveals Secret Signs behind both.



Finally we take the center door, and use the Power Glove to move a purple pillar across a gap so we can then grapple onto it with Jack and move on. The room after that contains the Gemini Circuit we need, so it's time to climb the stairs and heal up for the inevitable bossfight. As soon as we grab the item, a giant dragon rises from the ominous darkness in the background and attacks…



[Boss: Mech Drake]



This big beastie has an attack called Resonance Wave which can do a ton of damage, but Cecilia can match it with Darkness or Saint herself, or some summons. Between Fury Shots from Rudy and Fast Draws from Jack this thing isn't too lucky - it goes down surprisingly quickly for a huge foe like this. Pretty milquetoast for an alleged boss, if you ask me.

After defeating it, Cecilia concludes the thing we just found must be one of the Gemini Circuits that Emma needs, so we should get back to Adlehyde to check in with her - the good captain Bartholomew and his gang must have found the second one by now! A warp appears nearby to return, but the Escape spell works fine, and from there it's but a few steps to the Protowing.

Gull Wing

Entering Adlehyde castle is enough to further the story, since we're quickly shuttled back to the conference room for another meeting with Emma. She's pleased that we've got one of the circuits already - she can get to work as soon as she gets the other one! At that moment a messenger runs in and explains that they received a transmission from the team on the Sweet Candy - it seems they've found their own circuit and are returning to base too! Oh boy, the work can get started soon! Moments later the same guy runs back into the room again, and reports that they're getting a new message now - it's a mayday call from the ship, they're under attack! Emma declares that this is happening at the worst possible time! Is there a good time to get a mayday?



The scene then switches over to the ship, where Bartholomew and Jane are staring off the side, wondering what the hell is out there in the sea? We see that the water is really churning wildly, and Jane mentions it started just as they found one of the Gemini Circuits. She wonders if the ship has any special weapons, but the captain points out this is a trade ship, not the USS Missouri! (They have that in Filgaia?) Jane argues Bartholomew doesn't have a clue, does he? This is a game, so you should always have a special weapon! Okay, leave the poor fourth wall alone, you guys…



As the ship rocks violently in the storm, Bartholomew dramatically tells Jane to hold on to him, while Jane rejects that utterly. Bartholomew is mostly just inconsolable about his poor ship getting wrecked by the rough seas, though. She's sinking! It's time to abandon ship! As everyone quickly flees the ship begins exploding for some reason - a cargo hold full of dynamite, probably - and the rough seas soon swallow the Sweet Candy.

We watch as the crew make it to the shore on one of the dinghies, thankfully. Jane is drenched, and tells the men not to look at her! Rudy's party soon arrives to follow up on that mayday call, and Jack asks what happened? Did they at least get the Gemini Circuit they were after? Is it okay? McDullen apologizes, stating that they were too busy getting away from that creature - that horrific stone mermaid! The Gemini Circuit is probably at the bottom of the Inner Sea by now… Everyone decides to regroup back at Adlehyde, to regather our thoughts and make new plans. Bartholomew laments the loss of his Sweet Candy, and hopes she'll rest in peace!



Back in the conference room again, Emma concludes that the other Gemini Circuit is now at the bottom of the sea, and lost to us… Jane is frustrated by this development. Does this mean all their efforts were for nothing? Even McDullen did a good job on that last mission! Emma admits that she may have to give up on her Gull Wing idea, now that the circuit is out of their reach. There's then a brief moment where the color of the scene shifts, and someone comments 'Too bad…' Seems like the demons may have been behind the attack, huh?



Emma says they shouldn't give up - there must be another way…! There is, actually, and it's reliant on remembering what the Ship Graveyard is most known for, and why it tends to be known by that name. That's right, it's where debris washes up onto the shore! Heading back there, a man mentions that every time there's an attack by the 'stone mermaid', there's more debris on the beach. Sure enough, the second Gemini Circuit has found its way to the Inner Sea's dumping ground, and can be looted from the same beach where the loot from that Ghost Ship previously drifted ashore.



Asking around Yard, incidentally, someone mentions that a bunch of people came here and offered to work on the boats, but they were too busy dealing with the mermaid incident at the time. Seems the Drakes are still at it! Another mentions that he's been here for decades, but he's never heard of a hostile mermaid until today! Dan says that he looked into the mermaid thing, and apparently descriptions say it was made of stone - so maybe it was some kind of stone robot? Let me take a wild guess here... It's another one of the golems, isn't it? Explains that flash during the meeting, too - the golems are almost all under demon control, after all.

I head back to Adlehyde to deliver the Gemini Circuit to Emma, since with both in my possession we can get the Protowing upgraded! She is rather amazed we retrieved the item which was thought lost at sea, saying it's too good to be true, but she ignores the coincidence because now her full-fledged Gull Wing will fly the skies! She'll just have to get some extra people and get to work! In a replay of the original reveal scene of the Protowing, Emma explains that each of the Gemini Circuits are energy amplifiers, and when combined together they will achieve an energy level that cannot normally be generated. It's important for even small powers to support each other! Whether that's machines or human beings, it's the same thing… The lights then turn on and reveal the Protowing... again! It really doesn't look any different.

We can now also see the people that Emma hired to fix up the machine - they're the other five students of old man Zepet, gathered together again to finish his magnum opus! Matthew, Lulus, Norman, Tokanak and Nicholi each mention how abrupt this request was to come here, but Rudy's needs are the world's needs now… I'm not sure we met most of these people before, but hey...



Emma explains that the Guardian's power in the southeast is weakening, so a vessel is needed to take us there. The Gull Wing needs to be ready by morning, and she'll need everyone's help to accomplish this!

The midnight's oil is burned, and soon it becomes morning again. Emma announces that she thinks they did it… but they should test it out first. Sweet! Once we're flying our newly souped-up airplane, she explains, we should push the A button again while in the air to go even higher than normal! With that one can traverse mountain ranges and reach places that could not be reached before! The B button decreases altitude. It's all up to us now! The Gull Wing is moved up to the surface like the Protowing before it. We can now go even more Mode 7, and ignore essentially all terrain across the world, though we are still limited to the same range of tiles to land on.

Before we head out, there's actually a secret to be uncovered over in the weapon shop in Adlehyde - if you go in there with the Black Pass from Gemini's Corpse, you can reveal a stairway behind a bookcase which leads to the Black Market! This place sells some high-level items including great weapons and armor, as well as Goat Dolls which are a precious commodity but pretty cheap here. They're useful for high-end bosses, since they basically prevent you from dying to stuff by getting in the way. It's getting towards the endgame now, as you can guess, so this stuff is important…



There's another little detour we can make with the Gull Wing before moving on - remember how the Guardian of the Sword mentioned that his powers were somewhere else entirely surrounded by mountains? There's such a place close to Saint Centour, and we can find an Ancient Altar there with an orb, which naturally contains the Sword Rune. This glitter is his power, the Guardian declares, which possesses the cutting light and the power to defeat the demons! The strike of Equitus, which will sever evil away from us!



With that done, and the Gull Wing acquired, our next destination of note is Pandemonium, that mysterious Demon Castle to the southeast we were told about in a book in Heaven Corridor… It also happens to be difficult to get to without a fully upgraded flying vehicle, since it's deeply ensconced within the mountains...

Next time: Pandemonium!

 

[Thozmp]

You seem to be churning these out pretty quickly lately.