Trying to leave the village at night, by the way, causes Polka to say that it's dangerous to do so. Well, yeah, there are all those Very Very Empties! ... Well, seriously, we'll see why those are dangerous in the dark later. For now, it's off to the forest! It's up the stairway and down the path to a round opening.
Heaven's Mirror Forest
(Tune: Field NO. 12, "Illuminated Lives". It's pretty, yet foreboding.)
So now, Frederic's stats.
- Lv. 1
- Age: 39
- 1045 HP
- 0 Exp.
- Next: 200
- ATK: 20
- DEF: 14
- MAG: 17
- SPD: 11
He wields a Pine Baton (ATK +8) and wears a Gentleman's Coat (DEF +5).
Special Attacks
- Light: Sacred Signature
- Dark: Piu Grave
Sacred Signature is Frederic's "Orange Glow", so to speak. It executes in less time, however.
Piu Grave is a short-range attack in which Frederic hits the enemy a couple of times, then shoots an aura upward for more damage.
Since Polka's SPD is currently higher, I place her in the second slot.
This area is slightly more complicated than any area I've been in so far, but the "wrong" paths are all short and often lead to chests. And also often guarded by man-sized bird-things sporting rams' horns on their heads. Like this one that I sneak around and get the drop on.
Battlefields here are mostly dark with odd splotches of light. I can't count on being in a position to heal, though if I approach enemies from the left, the party is placed in and near a relatively large patch.
This chest has a Poison Whitecap in it; see the Ritardando Sewers section for info on that.
I like that Frederic says "You foolish creatures!" when there's only one.
Finally, a battle with two. I find that these things are called L'Opera Knights. They currently have a higher SPD than either member of my party, so even though I can eliminate one in the preemptive strike round, the other gets a chance to act. But it only comes right up to the two before stopping. How nice of it!
Frederic
- Lv. 2
- 1260 HP
- ATK: 23
- DEF: 17
- MAG: 21
- SPD: 14
Polka
- Lv. 3
- 1301 HP
- ATK: 21
- DEF: 17
- MAG: 27
- SPD: 16
I make a tactical error: I should have simply gone ahead and engaged that L'OK instead of trying to run away and go for another attempt at a back attack (which also works sometimes), and now Frederic has very little HP. Hopefully, I can heal it next battle. Oh well. At least I can report that L'Opera Knights have L'Opera Breath... and L'Opera Tornados. And they can L'Opera Heal.
Frederic
- Lv. 3
- 1476 HP
- ATK: 26
- DEF: 20
- MAG: 25
- SPD: 17
Polka
- Lv. 4
- 1504 HP
- ATK: 24
- DEF: 20
- MAG: 31
- SPD: 19
In the next area, more battles.
Frederic
- Lv. 4
- 1694 HP
- ATK: 29
- DEF: 23
- MAG: 29
- SPD: 20
It appears that, when leveling up, ATK and DEF always increase by 3, while MAG and SPD always increase by 4. At least with these two.
In the next area...
Polka
- Lv. 5
- 1710 HP
- ATK: 27
- DEF: 23
- MAG: 35
- SPD: 22
I save at the Save Point.
Frederic
- Lv. 5
- 1915 HP
- ATK: 32
- DEF: 26
- MAG: 33
- SPD: 23
I remember there was an item I forgot, so I go back. On the way...
Polka
- Lv. 6
- 1918 HP
- ATK: 30
- DEF: 26
- MAG: 40
- SPD: 25
Now both characters can each defeat a L'Opera Knight in a single round. (But because these things use pseudorandom numbers, and who knows the seed or could take advantage of it if they did, it's by no means certain.)
Anyway, I get the Walking Parasol (ATK +7, an improvement of 2 over the Cute Umbrella) for Polka.
Frederic
- Lv. 6
- 2139 HP
- ATK: 35
- DEF: 29
- MAG: 37
- SPD: 26
Frederic gains a new Special Attack: Coup de Grace!
Coup de Grace is a Light short-range attack with Strong Knockback. Do I really want to replace his healing move with it...? Nah...
Also, in my missed item collecting, I find a Copper Necklace (DEF +2). The game's first Accessory! I equip it to Frederic, as he's going to be getting up close and personal with a certain boss while Polka fires off Shade Comets.
I arrive in a large clearing. Doesn't that just scream "boss area"? It should. There's a large boar here, ready to boar our heroes to death! This Forest Boar's Charge, Winning Shot, and War Cry are pains, but the creature is eventually defeated, and drops a Bamboo Shaft. (Its stats will be examined later.)
Polka
- Lv. 7
- 2129 HP
- ATK: 35
- DEF: 29
- MAG: 45
- SPD: 28
Frederic
- Lv. 7
- 2366 HP
- ATK: 38
- DEF: 34
- MAG: 41
- SPD: 29
The reason certain stats changed more than usual is because it's showing their effective stats rather than what they'd have with items equipped.
The Party Level has changed to 2, now. What does this mean?
You can still take as much time as you want... at the start of each turn. However, once a character moves, the timer will count down even if the character stops while it's still his turn!
Polka guesses it's kind of dangerous there, but doesn't recall the animals being that aggressive. Frederic brings up the question of whether or not he answered correctly. He's pretty confident, however. Instead of answering, she urges him to come on.
(Tune: Um, I notice that Event Sequences 03 "It's Up to You" and 05 "Time Together" are in the list, but I don't know when they play.)
They arrive at a field of flowers, and these flowers are what Polka wanted to show him. As they look, it appears they got there just in time; the flowers are blossoming! They transform from regular pretty flowers to a spectacle of pulsing light, spreading over the field. Polka says they're called Heaven's Mirror, as they're like a reflection of the night sky on the meadow. This is the only place in the forest that they bloom. In addition, they're nocturnal bloomers. During they day, they absorb sunlight through their leaves, and at night, at exactly 2 AM, they give it off. Frederic agrees about their beauty.
Polka also gives their other name: Death Lights. This is because of the association between darkness and death, as well as the flowers' blooming time. She gives Frederic the choice of what to call them, but also says that Death Lights is what most people call them. People thought they looked like the light that guided people to death, because of their different behavior. A lot of people don't like them, thinking them a bad omen. Polka figures that's how people think of her.
She now asks how Frederic can tell which world is real, if what he's experiencing is so realistic. (Well, while I have reasons to believe that it's not merely a dream within the strict confines of the story in the game, but I often experience dreams that seem realistic at the time, even though they're not consistent with reality.) She now reveals that her thoughts at the time were of leaving Tenuto. She wants to go out into the world and live her own life, even if the world is just a dream. (Man, I'm getting The Silver Chair flashbacks...) She doesn't know how much time she has left, but she wants to make others happy in that time. As the flowers struggle to live on though they are called Death Lights, she wants to work toward her goal even if others don't want her around. Frederic asks where she wants to go. She decides to go to Forte Castle and talk to the Count about the taxes on floral powder, which are hurting everyone in the village.
She feels Polka should be happy he couldn't read her mind, as it means he can't use magic, and therefore doesn't have an incurable illness. (Um, Polka... Sacred Signature? Piu Grave?) She invites him to stay the night at her house, and says she'll tell her mother he's coming. (No, not like that...) Especially since he's a guest in this dream world, a rare occurrence, indeed! Frederic stays behind a bit, recalling a few of the things she said about the flowers.
Back in the Ritardando hideout, Beat relates that it's the first time he'll be going outside Ritardando. Allegretto says it's not like they're going on a picnic. Beat recalls what they are intending to do out there: get the leaders to lower taxes on items beside mineral powder. This would ostensibly allow people to buy more, especially in cases where people can't currently buy at all. Allegretto is proud of what he remembered, and says they can't actually solve the underlying problem by stealing bread. However, Beat reveals that he doesn't know where they're going. For some reason, this causes Allegretto to take back what he said. He climbs the ladder and says that they're going to Forte Castle.
Topside, I only get a little ways away before Allegretto decides he wants to check up on the sewer kids.
There's a woman selling Tenuto flowers here. Also, a woman whose husband swiped her dentures and took off. She says he's not getting dinner, but that we should get ahold of him. Also, she lets on that she always keeps a spare set of dentures.
I can enter the cave at the beach here, now.
(Tune: Field NO. 13, "First Step")
It's an eerie diversion. The cave is torchlit all the way down. A small side area has writing on the wall: "It hurts...but I can't...escape the pain..." Allegretto finds it kinda creepy. The cave, by the way, is actually a tunnel that comes out where we started controlling Polka. However, at the other end, Allegretto says it's not the way to Forte Castle, and turns around.
By the way, that Saber we won? It has an ATK of +12, an improvement of 7 over the Hunting Knife.
Back to the sewers!
Allegretto
- Lv. 5
- 2119 HP
- ATK: 40
- DEF: 26
- MAG: 29
- SPD: 24
New Special Attack: Sky Divider!
Beat
- Lv. 5
- 1878 HP
- ATK: 28
- DEF: 23
- MAG: 19
- SPD: 23
Sky Divider is a 2-hit Light attack with medium knockback.
I start seeing numbers and stars appear off to the side as I attack enemies, but I'll save that for the tutorial.
Something I neglected to mention is that there are wanted posters of Allegretto in the sewers. You know, for all the people who go there and don't know about him.
Speaking of people there, I talk to the kids. A boy, Ad, is bored and wants to go outside, but knows better than to do so. Allegretto would like for them to have better blankets, but this is the best they can have right now. A girl, Phony, asks if he's going outside the city. Sym, another boy, wants to know where that good bread comes from. The other girl wants the Rat Tail I won in battle. Boy, living in a sewer, even a pretty one like that, has made her unsqueamish, huh? She thanks us and gives us a Stick.
Symphony: Composition for full orchestra, consisting of four contrasted sections or movements.
Ad lib: Short for ad libitum; Passage played as performer wishes.
I take it out of the sewers... and to a man hanging out near the dock. He thinks we don't believe a day can be measured. He assures us that you can, and says you just need a stick. Like this one? Yep! He goes on to explain the idea behind a sundial. Then he gives us some dentures from his pocket. We can't, as in literally can't, give them to the elderly woman, nor do we want to, at least not directly. Anyway, I head out past the residence to the east.
Allegretto warns Beat that he'll have to watch himself, as it's not the same as fighting rats in Ritardando. Beat tells him not to worry; he'll take good pictures. Allegretto tells him not to waste time with that; he needs to help fight. Beat gets upset that it's called a waste of time. Allegretto says he can tell him about it later, and urges him to get moving.
Agogo Forest
(Tune: Field NO. 14, "Animals Everywhere")
And here's another battle in which we can't sneak around back!
It's another Tutorial opportunity! Allegretto explains the stuff about the Action Gauge that I already did when the Party Level changed, but calls the amount of time you have to think about what you're going to do "Tactical Time".
He also explains Echoes. Those are the numbers and stars I mentioned. The Echo Gauge at the right tells you the hit level your party has scored on enemies since the beginning of battle OR the last time you used a Special Attack. The higher the hit level, the more powerful the Special Attack. Healing moves heal by more; Attacks do more damage. Whenever you connect with a normal attack, that's one more hit, but to increase the power of Special attacks, the actual count needs to hit a certain minimum number at each level: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, and 32. And when you use a Special Attack, the Echoes get used up. At 24 and 32, characters say some kind of phrase before calling their attacks.
The other things he explains is that some enemies change form and attacks depending on the light level. For example, the lowly Very Very Empty becomes a relatively mighty Great Coconut when it enters shadows! (This is why the Path to Tenuto would be dangerous at night.) Great Coconuts have the healing move Murmur, and the attack Moldy Breath, among others. Before, the battlefields with VVEs on them didn't give them opportunity to change. But on this battlefield, there are rocks that provide shade.
I find a Copper Necklace and give it to Allegretto.
There are quite a few Florite Mice and L'Opera Knights in this forest, in addition to the VVEs.
Allegretto
- Lv. 6
- 2365 HP
- ATK: 44
- DEF: 31
- MAG: 33
- SPD: 27
Beat
- Lv. 6
- 2113 HP
- ATK: 31
- DEF: 26
- MAG: 21
- SPD: 26
The next section sees me finding a Serpentine Lock (ATK +8, an improvement of 2 over the Arquebus), a weapon for Beat. Another chest has a Light Guard (DEF +11, ATK +1; an improvement over either outfit). It can be worn by either, but I give it to Allegretto and have him hand his Mail Shirt down to Beat.
There's a man here who's painting a picture of the forest, but he's low on green paint. We'll come back to him later.
Down the other part of the fork, I save at the Save Point.
Next Time: We start off with a boss!
