Well, I take on a 2-VVE party first.
Allegretto
- Lv. 7
- 2614 HP
- ATK: 49
- DEF: 39
- MAG: 37
- SPD: 30
Beat
- Lv. 7
- 2351 HP
- ATK: 36
- DEF: 31
- MAG: 23
- SPD: 29
I head down the steps and toward the boss area.
This thing reminds me of a koala, a lizard, and a moth all at once. And then it breathes fire. It's a Baby Dragon, and it's accompanied by two Florite Mice. It has moves like Knock Out... and that's all he gets to use before he's slain. I've seen other moves on past playthroughs, though. Anyway, it drops the Stone Sword Hilt accessory.
Oh, and:
Allegretto
- Lv. 8
- 2867 HP
- ATK: 53
- DEF: 42
- MAG: 41
- SPD: 33
Beat
- Lv. 8
- 2592 HP
- ATK: 39
- DEF: 34
- MAG: 25
- SPD: 32
Beat gains Power Smash!
Allegretto says that if they don't hurry, they'll get caught in the rain. Beat isn't worried, as the hideout's roof leaks badly, even when it drizzles.
Raindrops
A mini-documentary? In my RPG? It's more likely than you think!
That's right, in different places in Eternal Sonata, the game talks about the life of Chopin as it relates to one of his pieces. The information is related in text over a still image as the piece in question plays. I won't talk about the images unless I find them interesting. A lot of them are architecture and statuary that I don't know, and therefore may or may not be related to the subject.
I also can't speak to the factual accuracy of the statements made.
I mean, there's a gold statue of a man on a horse here, and it's telling me about a woman called George Sand, whose real name was Aurore Dudevant. Dude. She was a famous published author of popular romance novels in Paris. The first time he saw her, he asked a friend if she was really a woman, for she defied cultural norms regarding women, wearing pants and smoking cigars in public, which was not the done thing in, y'know, the early 1800s in Europe. (As a side note, I've heard of some women taking masculine psuedonyms so their books would sell; I don't know if this was true of George or not, but it may have been a factor, albeit unmentioned in this game.) By this time, Chopin himself was a famous pianist in Paris. Their relationship "must surely have been the talk of the town." Chopin's health wasn't great, and it is speculated that the attention society paid them made things worse. Sand took Chopin to Mallorca, a Spanish island, to rest, but they left separately and met at a border village to avoid attention. They lived there for a while, his health and happiness improving... but then the rainy season began, and Chopin caught a cold, bringing his TB symptoms back. The landlord, fearing contagion of this then-incurable illness, evicted them. They went from there to the Valldemosa monastery. There was still rain... ...which is said to have been the conditions under which this piece was born. George stayed with him, unafraid of infection.
Aaand back to the game's story!
We shift to Polka and Chopin. It's started raining, as Polka notices. Chopin notices that it makes the plants look more alive. Polka remarks that rain is a blessing from heaven for Tenuto's flowers.
Now I can tell you about Piano Music. When you go through one of those mini-documentaries, the piece gets added to the Piano Music collection, and you can read the text at the same time. You cannot, however, watch it with the pictures without getting to that point again.
I save at the Save Point.
I "can't" tell you about Power Smash yet, but I can tell you about the Stone Sword Hilt. It adds 2 to the ATK of its wearer.
There's a short diversion to the left here, and there's a VVE here. No sweat, right? Well... remember how at first, if you encountered a VVE, it was just a party of VVEs, and then later, the battlefield had small shady areas that would turn VVEs into Great Coconuts if they got there, but you could probably stop them? Yeah, here, most of the battlefield is shaded, so at least one VVE is likely to be a Great Coconut. If you approach it from the right side, though, VVE in the center and near slots start off as VVEs. VVE in the far slot on this version of the battlefield start as Great Coconuts regardless.
I go back and follow the path a short ways, diverting to grab some Pretty Clothes (DEF +10, an improvement of 6 over the Handmade) from a chest.
After some fighting...
Polka
- Lv. 8
- 2343 HP
- ATK: 38
- DEF: 38
- MAG: 50
- SPD: 31
And she got Nether Wave! It's a Dark attack that starts only hitting the enemy in front of her, but then shoots a spread shot that damages enemies beyond.
After going up stairs and a little more fighting:
Frederic
- Lv. 8
- 2596 HP
- ATK: 43
- DEF: 37
- MAG: 45
- SPD: 32
Beyond some stairs, I get a Glowing Tail out of a chest. Up the stairs and farther away from the screen I get a Wet Umbrella (ATK +15, an improvement of 8) from a chest. I go back past the stairs and cross a bridge.
Beyond a VVE and up some more stairs, I come to the North Section. Plenty of opportunities to fight here. The central light in battlefields is gone, however, so it's Great Coconuts when it's not L'Opera Knights.
Up some stairs, I fight a Great Coconut facing out of a bottleneck so I can open a chest with a Hunting Coat (DEF +12, an improvement of 7 over the Gentleman's Coat) in it. A couple more fights later, Polka levels up. Next fight, Frederic does, as well. I save at the save point, and proceed...
Polka notices thunder. Frederic asks about shelter, but Polka knows of none. She is able to tell someone's coming. A young man in black, red, and white, and wearing a monocle, approaches them. He asks if they're looking for something in that weather. He is, himself, but he's not finding it easy in the rain. He figures the two would make good entertainment. He hates it when his clothes get wet. Uh, okay.
Battle transition! He can't stand natural smells, it seems. Dude's fast, and has powerful attacks. I can't win this fight, even if I block his normal attacks; he pulls out Blood Scent and knocks out Frederic. Polka lands some attacks, but his DEF is too high for her to do much. He uses Blood Scent on her, knocking her out, as well. Then he complains about dirt on his clothes.
As the two lay there, he realizes he doesn't have time to play around with them. (He sounds not entirely unlike Shadow, circa Sonic Adventure 2.) He needs to find a particular glowing creature. As he departs, he gives them his thanks for the workout.
Back in Paris, 11:23 PM, the woman notices the letup of the thunderstorm. She asks about Frederic. The physician relates that, like the weather, he seems to have settled down. The woman hopes he's all right. The physician thinks he's all right, in contrast to the violent spasms of earlier. The woman speculates that it was the lightning that startled him, but the physician thinks there may have been more. He figures tonight will be crucial.
Back in the forest, Beat looks around and notices that the rain and lightning have stopped. Allegretto asks Beat if he was shaking back there. Beat denies it, but Allegretto thinks he was holding onto his camera for dear life. Beat just wants to hurry up and get.
I've been through this part of the forest before, as Polka and Frederic. I save at the save point, and continue on my way. All the chests I encounter along the way are empty.
Oh yeah, Power Smash! It's a short range move, not terribly useful at the moment.
I fight my way through the forest, gaining the two a level up each! I get to where Fugue beat up the other two player characters, but they're not there. I find, however, a man stomping on a green platform. The platform isn't the target of his ire, however; he's mad because his "hag" complains all the time, so he took her dentures and is stomping them to pieces. It is implied that you told him that she's not going to give him dinner. He realizes the extent of her ire, and decides to go back and apologize. He realizes, however, that if she finds out about him smashing her dentures, she'll do worse. I hand over the set that Mr. "I want to eat time" found. He gives me green paint.
Say, wasn't there someone who was running out of that? I save at the Save Point I passed, and head back, intentionally fighting any respawners. I deliver it to him and get long johns in return. No, the PCs can't wear them. I fight my way back through, earning another level for the two, and Shadow Assault for Allegretto. If you haven't guessed, Shadow Assault is a Dark special attack. It's short ranged, but that's fine. He's generally attacking in short range, anyway.
Beyond the platform a ways, I run into a village.
Agogo Village
(TUNE: Field No. 03, "Different, but the Same")
...Oh my. I believe I was just hit with the significance of that. Anyway. Up the path a little ways, Allegretto complains about not finding a house until after it's stopped raining. Beat notices someone. He goes up the steps and asks the cute kid there if she lives in that house. She says she does, and introduces herself as March. She and her sister are the forest's guardians. Allegretto thinks it must be tough, with just the two of them. March doesn't think it is; while it's dangerous at times, she finds her sister always takes care of things. March is surprised at the number of guests they have.
Speaking of, she turns around to see that Polka is up and about. March tells her she could stay in bed if she wanted. Polka is wondering where she is. Rather than answer this directly, March relates that Polka was found unconscious at an entrance to the forest, and the agogos let her know. She also says that her friend might be taking a walk, trying to get inspiration for his music. Allegretto asks what agogos are, and March describes them as "round creatures". They don't approach humans, and haven't been showing up; March considers Polka lucky that they took a liking to her, and is surprised that they came to her about rescuing a human being. It's a first, as far as she knows. I should mention at this point that March has ears that point outward, unlike the rounded ears of the other characters. Polka seems surprised that they rescued her even though she's... she doesn't say what. March advises her to rest, and says she'll fix her some warm food. Then she realizes she doesn't even know the girl's name. Before Polka answers, however, Allegretto says her name for her. He gives her occupation, and explains that he heard someone say her name. Beat compliments her on her magic. This scares Polka, possibly because people not being afraid of or hostile to someone who can use magic is a new experience...? Or something...? She starts backing off, then runs off. Beat wonders if they said something wrong.
Polka passes Frederic coming the other direction. He's picked a snack, but Polka's too scared to care. Once with the others, he asks if something happened. March is concerned about her running around while she's still recovering. She does note that the path doesn't go far, so she shouldn't get lost.
But then a scream is heard; Allegretto identifies it as Polka! She might be in danger!
(TUNE: Event Sequence NO. 14, "Rapid Fire")
Perfect time to loot the village and go shopping!
...What? Hey, the shopping bit should help us help her!
The display near the house has a Score Piece in it! My first one this playthrough!
Score Pieces, while not really integral to the game, do have a use which I'll explain later. Right now, just know that you can go to your Score Pieces and hear them played. However, they're only marked by the position in the menu, and by the notes written on the staff.
The inside of March's house holds a Twilight Feather and a Club Clover.
...Oh, very well, I'll explain these, too. I haven't explained Glowing Tail, so I'll do that now. A Glowing Tail is a combat-use item which recovers its target's HP and gives the target Shining Body temporarily. This is useful if you want that character to only use Light Special Attacks for a while, or, in a pinch, just recover HP when you feel it doesn't matter.
The Twilight Feather's only effect is to heal Shining Body. So if you want a character with Shining Body to be able to use Dark Special Attacks, this is what you use first.
The Clover series of items recovers a set amount of HP to the entire party. Club Clover's amount is 3000.
On a box inside a building to the right, I get Floral Powder!
Down the curved ramp, I find a shop. I buy Frederic a better baton than the one I... I forgot to equip on him... But hey, the new one is a Cork Baton (ATK +18). I buy Breast Guards (DEF +21; ATK +1) for the other guys, as well.
I can admire the natural spring and stuff, but now it's time to save Polka!
Next time: Plains as the Nose on Your Face!
