Hey, fans! Welcome to the show! Here’s hoping you enjoy tonight’s episode, which I deem “The End of the Stupidly Long Prologue”! By the way, [at the time this update was originally created] it’s officially one week since I cleared my first play through of Devil Survivor. I know nobody cares about that, but I just felt like sharing.
When we last left off, we were standing beside a crate. If my calculations (and the symbol printed on the side of said crate) are correct, we’re about to get the hammers! Eager to try them out, I try jumping onto the box. But, unlike the millions of other things Mario’s jumped on in the past, this thing refuses to break into tiny little pieces. Before I saved last time, there was a small scene of a switch in a tiny room above; I’d best go through the only available passage (the lower one’s blocked by bigger crates) and see what it does.
…Oh, what’s this? Upon entering this passage, I find a puzzle piece in a ? Block. Chippy comes out and tells me that, I’ll learn a special move by collecting the other 9 pieces. While I’m happy that I can finally use those SP points, my logic senses are tingling: shouldn’t something like this be taught by a professional, rather than a jigsaw? Regardless, I head on forwards; the next room has eight pieces. This is too easy…there’s going to be a tutorial, I know it! And that guess is immediately proven right, as I enter the next room and grab the tenth piece. Congrats, I learned the Green Shell move! …There are so many questions I could ask right now, but I’ll just blissfully ignore them.
In the tutorial, we’re greeted to a new enemy: Elite Goombules! They’re like the other kind of Goombules, except that they wear jump-proof helmets. Thus, I have no choice but to follow Chippy’s advice and use the Green Shell move, while she heals our HP and SP up to maximum in case…wait, what?! The little punk can completely heal us, and she’s only going to do it for this one tutorial?! Jerk!
…Moving right along, in the room after that 10th piece, we’re in the tiny space above the hammer crate. We hit the switch, and after a delay, we get the hammers! Turns out I had the right idea when I was jumping on them earlier; I just needed to fall from a height that would potentially kill the average person. After another lesson that’s pointless if you’ve played either of the last two M&L games, I save my game again, smash the crates and take this room’s other passage. The next room’s pretty boring: it begins with a short fall, there’s a ‘pipe’ that’ll take you back up to the last room, and there’s some kinda nerve that’s just asking to be hit with the broad side of my new weapon. Doing so causes a wall to lift and an egg-ish thing to fall nearby. Again, it’s practically begging to be smashed!
Inside the egg is a pair of Spike Blops, AKA germ Spinies. Y’know what a Spiny is, right? Those things that Lakitus drop that hurt if you step on them? Anyways, one hammer-in-battle lesson later, and they’re dead. Plus, Luigi levelled up, and got a +4 in Stache! …Well, technically. I actually got a +2 on my first time, but since I’d saved so recently, I just rebooted and tried for a better number. I would’ve tried for even higher, except that I was playing this part on the bus, and I’d reached my stop around this point.
Continuing on, the Spike Blops’ defeat causes a ‘pipe’ to appear, getting me to the room’s exit. I fight a couple more enemies, getting Mario 1 XP away from a level-up, and exit the room. And…that’s it! I made it! I’m out of the Trash Pit section of Bowser’s Body! S’long, needless tutorials! I won’t miss you a bit! …Though I might miss the abundant Save Points that said they had temporary qualities…
Chippy says we should look for someplace to rest up and whatnot, and temporarily hovers above a section that has a large mushroom on it. I decide to take this not-subtle-at-all hint and check it out; while there is a location between where I am and where it is, apparently the Mario Brothers have instant teleportation abilities on their Stage Select screen.
In the Mushroom area, dubbed ‘Toad Square’, we find…Toads, duh. Four of ‘em, to be precise. Apparently, they’re pretty scared over the whole ‘being eaten’ thing, but running shops seems to calm them down. No, literally; they tell me that running shops keeps them relaxed. First place I check is the Info Booth at the area’s top; apparently, Toadbert (I think this is the first time they mention him by name, by boogity) was investigating something, and has yet to return. Note to self: save Toadbert. The next stop is the outfit store; I buy Picnic Wear for Luigi, increasing his defence by 10. I would’ve bought something for Mario, but…
A) I like keeping only one of each item.
B) There’s a better ‘Wear’ item just 70 coins out of reach, and I should save up.
C) I like Luigi better. I just do.
I skip the item shop (I’ve already got all the Mushrooms I need, fool!) and head to the bottom, which is the Healing Station. I’m going to paraphrase what the Toad running it says, the last sentence being directly quoted: “This Emoglobin sweats juice. By drinking it, you’ll recover your HP and SP. …It’s an acquired taste.” Yeah. Before leaving, I notice two things: this place lacks a Save Point, and there’s some kind of giant, unreachable ‘pipe’ in the ceiling. While we could just be in the stomach, that pipe piques my curiosity…
While I could continue this update to the point where I eventually found a Save Point, I’m assuming that you dear viewers can only take so much before your heads explode. Plus, this was the part of my recent excursion in which I had to put my DS in Sleep Mode while doing something important; by taking update breaks that correspond with real-life playing breaks, I hope to accomplish…something.
Oh, and since Mario’s the same, I’ll just show you Luigi’s new stats:
Luigi: Level 2, 34 Max HP, 10 Max SP, 18 Pow, 30 Def (with Picnic Wear), 11 Spd, 36 Stache
