Hi guys! I was bored, so I decide I'd do the next part now. Don't expect updates this frequently in the future, though; longer areas = longer to write.
Anyway, we left our heroes last time being kicked out of Vale. So now we're on the world map. Pressing R here gets a nice detailed map of the world, or the parts we can visit anyway. We're gonna start by heading south.
And we encounter this brown... thing. It notices that we are mighty warriors. And Adepts (people who can use Psynergy) too. The thing's name is Flint, and he's a Venus Djinni. He explains that he wants to find his friends and he can make us really powerful. He asks to join us. We should accept, but it's funnier to say no. Observe:
Flint: What do you think? Will you take me with you?
(Isaac: No)
Flint: Come on! I promise you won't regret it! Please take me with you!
(Isaac: No)
Flint: Pleeeease! I'll never let you down. Can't I go with you?
(Isaac: No)
Flint: No, I'm serious! I'll never, ever disappoint you. Please!!!
(Isaac: No)
Flint: PLEASE take me with you! Please! I'm begging!
(Isaac: No)
Flint: Please!
(Isaac: No)
Flint: Take me with you!
(Isaac: No)
Flint: Meanie! I don't care what you say! I'm coming along with you!
Flint, the Venus Djinni, is now Isaac's ally!
Admittedly, Echo's joining scene in The Lost Age is funnier.
Anyway, Flint gives us a tutorial on how to use Djinn. First you equip them on a character. They give that character a stat boost (Some HP, 5 in that element's Power and Resistance, and some other stats). Then you use them, giving you a special effect in combat. They take their stat boost with them. You can then call on the used Djinn and summon them. Summons base their damage as if they were a standard Psynergy attack, but also deal damage based on the targets HP. You then have to wait a few turns before the Djinn return to you, giving you back their stat boost.
The only summon we have right now is Venus. Venus costs 1 Venus Djinn and has 30 power plus 3% of the targets HP in Venus damage, then raises the users Venus Power by 10 until the end of the battle.
Djinn also have another effect: Depending on the mix of elements between Djinn and the Adept, they may change your class. This changes the Psynergy you can use.
Anyway, Flint gives (before class multipliers) 8 HP, 4 PP and 3 Attack. When used in battle, he does a Venus attack at 160% the user's Attack power.
For now, he's going to Garet, because Garet's base class is one of the worst in the series. This changes Garet's class to Brute; HP, Attack and Agility go up, Defence and Luck go down, and the Mars elemental Flare is replaced by the Venus elemental Growth.
We now start to encounter enemies of decent strength, but random enemies are nothing to really mention unless they have a good item drop. The interesting stuff is all in the bosses, to be honest.
Southeast from Vale, we encounter Vault. As we try to enter the town, a series of wagons emerge. The caravan, led by Master Hammet, consider the area too dangerous and decide to go back to their home in Kalay. Except the bridge is out. Apparently, they also left someone called Ivan behind. He has strange powers, and was left behind so he could find Hammet's lost rod.
As the eruption of Mt. Aleph is spewing giant Psynergy Stones at them, they decide to defy all logic and go to Lunpa, the town of thieves. Let's follow them, Vault can wait.
...Or not. Lunpa's closed to visitors. All we can do is Catch a Nut. Nuts are really good, they heal 200 HP. Back to Vault then.
A conveniently placed NPC informs us that the continent we are on is called Angara. I guess that's useful.
We find a Mint in town. This gives us a permanent Agility boost to who uses it. I let Garet use it, as the class change still leaves him 7 Agility below Isaac.
In the shops, I can trade my Long Swords for Battle Axes, but I'm a bit short of money. Grind time!
(There won't be a lot of grinding in this playthrough, and even then, only for money, not levels.)
Isaac learns Earthquake at level 4.
Also, how can a zombie 'nimbly' dodge a blow? It's a frickin' zombie!
Now that I'm all set up, let's go around the town. There's been a lot of thefts, apparently.
The mayor has that Ivan kid in his house. Let's go talk to him. He decides to read Isaac's mind and figures out he has similar powers to us, and that it's called Psynergy. He then asks for our help in finding Hammet's rod. Also, if an Adept holds hands with Ivan, they can both read someone's mind. Ivan says that nobody else could tell if Mind Read was being used, and the three determine that only Adepts can see Psynergy being used.
Ivan joined your party.
Ivan is a Jupiter Adept. He joins at level 4 with Whirlwind, Mind Read and Ray. As for his elements, Jupiter is strongest, followed by Mars, Venus and Mercury (They follow the same number pattern that is used for Isaac and Garet). We can't actually fight using him, however, as he can't leave Vault without the rod.
Hmm, there are shady people in the inn. Let's harass them!
One of them: What do you want?
The other one: It looks like that weird kid is with them!
Nobody likes Ivan, do they? Anyway, these guys refuse to let us near them, so we decide to split up and trap them. It plays the minigame music during this for some reason. We catch one of them, and Ivan reveals them to be the theives. All the stuff they've stolen is in the inn somewhere.
There's a hole in the roof. Let's start there. What do you know? That's where it is! The thieves show up and insult us a bit. They then tell us that Hammet was kidnapped by the theives of Lunpa. Gasp! I thought they were gonna give him ice cream! Apparently, the town Lunpa has gone downhill since Dodonpa, the grandson of the founder, Lunpa the noble thief, took charge and started doing evil stuff.
They use this as a reason to let them go. We say no, because that's the stupidest reason ever. So they try to kill us.
The Bandit is the first boss in the game, but he's really easy. Why? Because he's a non-Adept and thus is weak to all 4 elements. We make short work of him. We get a Bandit's Sword for winning, which is our first Artifact Weapon.
Artifact Weapons are pretty strong. When Artifact Weapons would normally critical, there is a chance the weapon will unleash. An unleash is a powerful attack that increases damage done and attaches an element to an attack. And they completely wreck the balance of the game later on. But that's something for later. The Bandit's Sword reduces damage to 90%, but has a chance of doubling damage from there, and converts it to Jupiter.
Ivan decides he must go to Lunpa, but not before both getting Hammet's rod back, and reading Isaac's mind to figure out what they will be doing. The mayor and a few other people come in to retrieve the treasure. However, the thieves are still trying to justify their actions.
Thief: Hey, you're the ones who left all your doors open! You were practically begging us to—-OUCH!
Yeah, one of the guys who came in kicked him.
With everything retrieved, and the thieves arrested, everyone goes their different ways. The mayor asks us to visit him later, and when we do, he gives us a Water of Life! This is a rare revival item. It'll probably be useful later.
And so, we must head towards the next town. See you later.
Stats:
Isaac: Lv 5 Squire HP:75 PP:28 Attack:61 Defence:31 Agility:30 Luck:3
Garet: Lv 5 Brute HP:81 PP:25 Attack:66 Defence:27 Agility:31 Luck:1
