And we're back.
If you'll recall, last we left off our four heroes had just received their first Jobs from the dying shards of the Wind Crystal. I elected for forgo having a Thief or Black Mage on the team for now, though that might change as I get more used to the system.
I manage to set Lenna to the backrow after a little tinkering in the menu, and get into a couple random battles on the overworld to test the capabilities of my team.
Of course, first fight I get into happens to be a Back Attack against... Giant Squirrels? ...More pressingly, where did they get those giant acorns from anyway? In any case, they don't do any major damage and I'm able to win with little trouble.
In any case, it seems F is doing a typical damage of about 90 divided between two hits, Galuf hits for about a 50 in a single hit, and Faris does around 40, also in a single hit.
Since Lenna doesn't have any White Spells yet, I head back in to top off my health, then depart for the ship again. I boat around a little and find a locked gate and fight off few cephalopods before finding a seaside town next to a pond or lake of some sort.
This is Tule, and the pirates take the shore leave opportunity to kick back some Grog. Faris leaves to join them as well. With nowhere specific for us to be, I search around a bit.
An old man next to me talks about a "Greenhorn's Club" and brings me to it when I ask. I go in, and after confirming that I'm new at "this adventuring thing", they let me into the club proper.
I'm given a bunch of information here, almost all of which I had figured out for myself at this point. There is, however, a note on my character 'aging' when their hair turns while- I assume this is a status condition of some flavor?
Also, I end up seeing the Job System Tutorial three times because my finger slipped on the (Yes/No) toggle.
Upstairs, there's a trapped chest that contains an easy battle against another goblin (also leather shoes) and a bit more useful info about specific abilities. I figure I should have someone become a Thief at some point, just to get the ability to run with B-button.
One random NPC has a chuckle-worthy comment of meteors being 'In-season' this time of year, and I head to the magic shop. I pick up Cure, Libra and Poisona for Lenna, and also stock the Black Mage triad of Blizzard, Fire and Thunder. They'll come in useful eventually.
I enter the weapon shop, and Faris pops in quickly so I can update change hi/er weapons as well. Galuf gets a Broadsword and Lenna, a staff. Same thing in the Armor Shop, where I get three Leather Hats for the party members who aren't named Lenna.
I head to the North Castle, where Lenna stops to mention that it's Zok's castle, Zok being the one who designed the canal. This seems plot important, so I head off to the pub first.
There's a bunch of pirates here, who are largely amicable. The female dancers up front have a brief cutscene where they proceed to converge on F's sprite, with a heart appearing in the background. I will do my absolute best to avoid thinking about the implications of this... since they don't ever unconverge. The piano also gives a cute little scene where you play it, complete with a sardonic 'level up' message.
Faris is upstairs sleeping for whatever reason (a hangover already?) and F goes in to check up on him(Getting tired of using gender-neutral terms). Faris moves a little while asleep, and F is shocked. He leaves the room with a heart above his head and a "goofy look" on his face, to the point where Galuf has to see what's the matter and has the exact same reaction.
Lenna's locked out of the loop and Faris wakes soon after, knocking the two out of their stupor. He tells them that he needs some time to himself, and locks the door. Guess it's time to continue with the plot.
I enter Zok's castle and Zok (who appears as a regular Old Guy sprite, so I can assume he's not too important) is startled to see Lenna. In order to get to the Water Crystal, we need to head east to Walse, which can only be done if we first head through the canal. Zok claims that it's too dangerous to head through the canal now... and that he lost the key, as one would expect.
In order to make up for being totally useless, he invites the Party to stay the night. I'd be more excited about a free Inn if it weren't just for one little trope...
Ah, and of course, F is woken in the middle of the night. He gets up and for whatever reason, heads out to sit by the castle's moat and exposit about his father. We get a flashback, backed by probably the coolest tune I've heard in the game thusfar.
His father talks about protecting the crystals at any cost, then quickly 180s and tells his wife not to tell F about them, since he doesn't want his son burdened by them. I can only assume, from all this, that F's father died because of this in some way.
Back in the real world, F heads back inside and sits at the table. Old Man Zok, creepily enough, was watching Lenna sleep. He and F talk a little bit, and he gives F the key to the Canal... which he had all the time, and was hiding from Lenna in order to keep her safe. F, true to fashion, agrees to protect her.
Morning comes and, since I'm fairly sure I've done everything I can at the moment, I leave. Faris comes out of the pub to join me, followed by the pirate crew... who he leaves behind, ostensibly to guard their loot. Which I assume is parked nearby, as we're taking the ship and I don't see them with any other method of transport.
On the ship, F approaches Lenna, who talks about the effects of the Crystal's deaths. Though at the moment the air is just slower, soon wind will stop altogether and become stagnant; if the other crystals are destroyed, there will be similar reactions that will lead to the world dying after a short while.
Galuf is rather gung-ho about protecting the Crystals, even though his memory is still blank. Faris agrees, and also mentions that they need to find King Tycoon... who he still feels is alive; Ah, I love it when my skepticism is rewarded by vindication.
They ask if F is going to help them, and he seems won over by the power the last Crystal gave him. I figure he still feels he owes the two of them for ditching them earlier.
I search around a bit more on a boat and find, on a plateau, a goblin who uses Goblin Punch. If 8-Bit Theater is any indication, I should probably be able to Blue Magick-ify that technique. Without any real idea what I'm doing, I just let the goblin do stuff while I hit it with the only Blue Mage ability I have; Check. For whatever reason, the battle ends with Faris learning Goblin Punch, so I'm rather satisfied.
I recall in the Greenhorn club, they mentioned a Metal Bat's Vampire ability being copyable via Blue Mage, so I head back to the first cave of the game. F, near the entrance, notices Boko's footbrints heading inside.
I eventually learn Vampire after a ridiculous amount of battles in which they targeted everyone else except Faris with the ability (Note Faris was the only one in the first row), and proceed deeper in search of Boko. Eventually I find that the pirates came into possession of Boko and tended to his wounds; I also receive several potions as gifts for the Captain.
With that done with, I head to Torna Canal. F heads off to the point of the ship and, while dangling, happens to come across the centimeter-wide gap he needs to use the key on; I somehow think there would be a better spot to put that.
The party would like to know how F came upon the Key, but his answer is basically "STFU" and they continue on.
We come across a whirlpool and Panic! music starts to play. Lenna calls it the 'sealed monster' and Faris complains about the rudders failing to work; the ship gets sucked to the center of the vortex rather quickly.
The dragon helming the ship speaks out, and then a lobster... thing... emerges from the depths. Boss battle time, I presume.
Alright, a quick Libra tells me that this thing only has about 500 damage, which I can pile on pretty quickly. F smacks on it for about 100-150 damage each turn, with Galuf adding an additional 50. It's damage is nothing special, and with Faris able to use Vampire to heal himself, half the time Lenna had nothing to do during her turn. All in all, a rather easy fight.
The ship drifts away from the whirlpool, but leaves the dragon that was pulling it behind. Faris freaks out and eventually the dragon's pulled beneath the sea.
We resume a little later. The ship not longer has a method of self-propulsion, and is just drifting at this point. Faris is having a bit of Heroic BSOD and Lenna tries to cheer him up by saying the dragon could still be alive... which would make sense, since it's an aquatic dragon that got sent to the ocean floor... but Faris just looks over the edge of the ship moodily.
A bit later, after more drifting, the party wakes up after having napped on the top deck... which would extraordinarily stupid as well as uncomfortable, since the ocean sun would dehydrate them quicker than anything.
F wonders where they drifted to, and Farris & Lenna tell them it's a Ship Graveyard and undead hotspot. Unpleasant, but at least we have a White Mage.
I head across to the shredded ship to my left, taking out a couple of easily killed skeletons along the way. Eventually, we make way to the flooded portion, where Faris complains about having to pass through the water.
The party heads down a set of flooded stairs and are presumably beneath water. They don't seem to be suffering any ill effects of this, strangely. In any case, a bit of searching yields a Phoenix Down, which I'm sure will be useful.
A little farther and I encounter a new enemy, an Undead Husk where... my game proceeds to freeze, causing me to reload and realize I haven't savestated since Zok Manor.
...Damn.
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