Last update, we spent most of our time throttling the first Pokemon rejects monsters and boss that the game threw at us. This update is a bit of a change of pace, we'll be focusing on questing and figuring just what on earth is in this horrid little town.
- Straight to the end. Talk to the soldiers at the entrance to the castle. I will give you the quest [002 ゴロネール 城 に 入ろう] In this quest. Conditions is to build 3 The stamp cards or more.
- To match the lower right side of the city. I found a book store (all quests) talk to him and then explore the topic. Right inside the store. Will find details about the quest, 3 and 4, but now it is. A comment. Is not going to get the quest.
Screw that, let's explore first! The spot that we left off last time is a 4-way intersection... Since the plot involves going ahead (and following some blue pawprint things on the street), let's start off by seeing just WHAT is in this town... Going left reveals a three-way intersection, with pots that should be visible coming in and breakable from items (once again, not wholly unlike Dragon Quest 9). I got a red jar from the second pot, though not sure if that was pre-scripted or not. Walking towards the intersection, we stumble across some sort of cat-person, who aside from having a sprite that pops up while speaking, doesn't seem terribly special... There's a human further ahead to the right... Who is even less special-seeming, as well as a barrel that is breakable (didn't get an item from it). Oh... Looks like this human NPC yaks a bit... And drops a highlighted term... Something composed of 8 kana... All in Hiragana... There's a what appears to be a shop here marked on the map with a bag that has a roof that looks sorta like a red owl (which judging from the amalgamation of weapons, books, random foodstuffs, and art pieces inside, looks like it might be a general store... Or a junk shop...) that you can enter with an old woman behind a table with some books on it. She has a sprite while speaking (which looks kinda like her store roof)... But nothing terribly spectacular... (At least for now...) There's some pots to the left in front of a gate to oblivion places that the game won't let you go. When I smashed them, I got an herb from the lower one.
Going south at the three-way intersection takes you to a bend... There's two pots near a bridge, a barrel in front of a building and another on a grassy patch near a creek. All are breakable, but I only got an item (amulet) from the one by the creek (Break all of them anyways, though! JRPGs are made for wanton destruction!) Talking to the NPCs doesn't really achieve much... At least not for now, though the one closer to the building here has a sprite that pops up while yakking. The aforementioned building has a book and pen for an icon on the top screen and a roof that looks kinda like a bluebird (was this town planned by a starving cat or something?)... There's a bearded guy here with a hat that looks like his shop roof with a chat sprite that looks like he just saw an alien (probably our clothes... Again.), and what appears to be a piece of cowhide in a red chest to the right.
The next area is the same place that we first came into town in the prior update... Continuing right will reveal some pots and a barrel to bust on your way (got a purple fish-thing from the barrel). Three NPCs have chat sprites in this area, a man and a woman in front of a house on the left, and a cat-person on the far right. Also, some important observations from the map... NPCs appear to be marked with blue dots, while buildings without icons to make them stand out have so far appeared to be just there to look pretty...
Continuing right reveals a leftwards-pointing curve and what appears to be the town's trauma inn... Let's avoid that for now... There's a series of three pots in front of the inn, one of which gave me what appeared to be a medallion... Both NPCs have talkie sprites, but otherwise don't seem terribly special... There's a green manhole cover that you can't walk on for some reason... Going into the inn reveals that the proprieters apparently have an invisible barrier blocking off the stairs to the second floor running off of the souls of naive prepubescent Kid Heroes. Talking to the cat-lady behind the counter doesn't appear to do a whole lot... So let's blow this place...
The next spot has what appears to be the weapons shop, with what looks like a crow with wings pointing down forming the roof nestled in a loop with the back conveniently located 20 feet off the ground to break the spines of anyone trying to sneak into the shop from the back that you can walk around. Like the owl shop earlier, this is also a place built around a 3-way intersection (albeit in a mirrored direction). There's two pots by a set of stairs to the right (on the map) of the shop. Breaking them gave me 30 G (from the rightmost one). There's three NPCs out here, 2 near the weapons shop, and one on the other side of a bridge spanning a small river down an alleyway. None of them seem really important... The top two are human (topmost has a chat sprite), and the bottom one is a black catboy (with chat sprite). If you go into the weapons shop, you'll meet Falco Lombardi a crow-man... Who is too busy gawking at you to apparently sell you a decent... Anything. Let's ignore Falco him for now and continue exploring.
A quick check on the path crossing the bridge takes us back to where we started from in this update, so let's check the other... There's not much here... There's a brown cat-man with a chat sprite, and a path to the right that takes you down an aqueduct that ends in front of a locked gate (which appears to have a dungeon icon on the map, so might wind up coming here later). There's a pot by the gate too. When I broke it, I got a talisman... Medallion... Bronzy thing like the others I've been getting earlier in this update... I think.
Continuing forward takes us to a large plaza with fountains and cobblestones with a fish motif... As well as an arrow telling us where to go next to advance the plot... The middle and leftmost paths leading to this plaza take us to the 4-way intersection from earlier, and a street that connects with the owl shop respectively... So nothing special there. There's 5 NPCs in the plaza, one on the left, 2 on the right, one by the fountain, and one to the north of the same fountain. There's a barrel and 2 pots to smash up in front of the shops ringing the plaza. Going counter-clockwise from the leftmost shop to the rightmost, I netted a hunk of cheese, nothing, and another coin thingy (I'm pretty sure that's a cat on it now that I look closer)... The rightmost shop is enterable, as its icon on the top screen map would suggest, but as with all of the others, there's not much to do right now... All of the NPCs in this plaza have chat sprites... But nothing of any real import appears to happen if you talk to them... Of course, seeing as I don't understand Japanese, for all I know, they could be telling me that if I don't walk a certain way, the starving cats that planned out this town will eat my face. There's a split in the path to the north of the plaza. Going right takes you to a place by a lake, with a glowy blue thing by a stone tablet, which will trigger a bit of a back and forth between Oliver and Shizuku if you examine it. Going left takes you to a red chest with some sort of purple scale... Rock... Thing that I could have sworn that I ripped off from one of the monsters in the last update.
After dawdling exploring the town, we finally get to where the guide instructed us to be, which is a walkway to a trippy-looking castle with purple-roofed turrets, yellow cat-heads, and red starburst things that may or may not be windmills that takes up both of the DS' screens. Going forward takes you to a gate with a guard... Which according to our headache-inducer guide is our next questgiver. After accepting the quest, Oliver and Shizuku yack a bit... Er... Let's try that bookstore that was mentioned... On my way back into the plaza, I notice that the fountain apparently has a statue of a cat-man with a crown as part of it. Looks like he is (or was) the local ruler. The map instructs you to go down the leftmost street, so I guess we're going to that place with the book icon? Passing the owl shop confirms our suspicions, as a red arrow prompts us to pass it and continue in the place back where we met birdhat-man... And sure enough, this is the place... When we talk to the guy behind the desk, he eventually drops two red terms as he yacks with Oliver, the first one pops up twice (4 Hiragana + 6 Katakana). Shizuku butts in for a line and birdhat continues on a bit while the camera pans to what looks like a bulletin board near the red chest we raided earlier.
Oh! It's a quest listing! There's apparently 4 slots... But quests 3 and 4 have ??? as a description... Er... Help me here, guide...
- To the right side of the city. Will find the weapon shop. (Cross-shaped sword), talk to people who stand behind the store. I will give you quests. [003 らく がき を 消そう].
- To clean up the back wall. To talk to him again to finish the quest, then we will have added another stamp card.
Hmm... Let's go over to Falco's that weapon shop then... Also, it looks like we just figured out what that map-thing that popped up after our first quest was...
A quick dash back to the weapon shop reveals a fourth blue dot on the screen... Looks like our questgiver... Going to the dot reveals a woman standing in front of a wall covered in some nasty-looking graffiti that wasn't there the last time we were in this part of town. And sure enough, this is our Quest #003.
Cleaning the graffiti is easy enough (even though the game doesn't give you much help with controls, and the guide literally says NOTHING about how to do this), just go in front of one the scrawls (they're yellow, purple, and orange, side-by-side) and press A to wipe it from the wall. After you're done, you'll get a little chime and a message. Go back to talk to the woman from earlier to claim your "Quest Complete" card as well as 2 crown things added to your map that we saw after Quest #001. Hmm... We get the same chime again... Looks like it's time to go bug that guard again.
- After three years I have been at the castle. Talk to the soldiers face the castle. He told us to dress properly before.
- Out to the lower left side of the city will find all the items (a bag) to go talk to the owner. I will cut off your shirt. It takes a day.
- Keep out of the store's return to the hotel to sleep INN $ 20.
- Return to store items. I will tailor it to us. Then back to the castle.
Er... What? Looks like we're doing... Something... And visiting that inn we saw earlier.
When we return to that soldier in front of the castle gate, we get a "Quest Cleared" card for Quest #002. So those "stamps" are those little crown things on that map thing that have been popping up. (You should have six by this point.)
The guard talks a bit, and then it cuts to Shizuku and Oliver yacking... Guess clothes meant for small-town America won't cut it here in this town...
This time there's no arrow... So let's go on a leap of faith and go back to the owl shop from earlier.
When you go in, the clerk apparently has a yellow exclamation mark over her head... So... Good sign, I guess. When you talk to her, it triggers a lengthy discourse between Shizuku, Oliver, and the clerk... Er... Let's go to that inn now...
When we step foot outside the shop, Oliver and Shizuku have a short exchange, and then the game gives you TWO arrows to follow... Uh... Let's take the one directly in front of this shop... The arrows die out after you reach the four-way intersection. Some quick backtracking reveals that taking the other (longer) way will give you an uninterrupted chain of red arrows prompting you to the inn.
As with the lady from the owl shop, the clerk here has a yellow exclamation point over her head. After you talk to her, the game will prompt you to cough up 20 G if you want to stay the night.
After making ourselves 20 G poorer, we get treated to a scene of Oliver passed out on one of the inn's beds asleep. Which then transitions into a rendered cutscene of a much younger (and visibly shorter) Oliver on a path, apparently on a lawn... Our sandwichmaker mom calls out a couple times (which marks the first time the VAs have done something in this update), which prompts Oliver to look around and call our for mom. He goes up the path and runs into mom... She says something back to us and we launch into a bit of a conversation, which eventually cuts off with mom fading out with Oliver futilely chasing after her vanishing figure.
Oliver gets startled awake, and after a "Kaza" ("mother", presumably), we get punted back to the front of the inn's front desk. We get our HP and MP restored, as well as a chance to save our game... Alright, now time to check up on that owl-shop...
Oliver and Shizuku yack for a couple lines before the game gives you the freedom to move about... And the magical invisible forcefield blocking off the stairs is still there...
When you leave the inn, you'll see red arrows on the map again. Follow them, and sure enough, you'll wind up at the owl shop... (Make a left at the 4 way intersection if you follow the upwards arrow at the base of town.) Go in and talk to the clerk to score yourself a set of embarassing fashionable clothes. (If you were wondering how Oliver got that outfit with the red cape in the trailers, now you know.) There's a bit of dialogue after getting your new duds, Oliver briefly freaks out after one of the clerk's lines (presumably worried about how much his clothes are going to cost him), but quickly calms down after the clerk apparently tells us that she has standards and won't extort a disoriented fifth-grader.
- Talk to the soldiers inside to know that. The king was ill.
- Outside the castle. Chi Kung is telling her to cast Gate to return to the city Hottoroito.
- I do not think a new cab it. See above, or search for the Gate.
Er... Looks like we're making a trip back to our beloved Hotroit pretty fast. Let's go harass that guard one last time though. This time, the game DOES give you arrows, to tell you where the castle was in case you forgot / got distracted ganking monsters outside of town. There's a lady with a talk sprite with a headscarf in front of the fountain who will give you Quest #004, but let's ignore her for now.
Run up to the guard again (he's got a yellow exclamation mark, and is the only person there, so he's kinda hard to miss) and yack with him. He'll open the gates to let you through. Before you can do anything though, he sighs and launches off into some more dialogue...
There's not much to do here in this next area beyond gawk at the droolworthy background used for this garden... Oh and to head left to find a red chest with a bread loaf in it. When you're done press on along in the direction of the red arrow. The next area is a bit bigger. Take some time to raid the rooms with beds in them and shrubbery on their roofs (guesthouses?), the left one has a red chest, and both have pots for you to destroy (obtained a bottle of something from the red chest, and a red jar from one of the pots in the right room). The other doors in this area won't open for you, but there's some pots in the upper corners of the walkways to smash up (got a bowl of what looked like milk with mint in it in one of them). When you head off to the direction of the arrow, you'll run into a doppelganger of slacker from the town gate. If you talk to him, he'll say a few words (presumably about the king being sick) and eventually drops a long red highlighted phrase... That means nothing to me beyond something to do with a kingdom (presumably this one). Shizuku will cut in eventually, apparently displeased with slacker's lookalike's attitude, and apparently tells us to head back outside (which the map confirms).
Back at the plaza, Shizuku and Oliver yack a bit... Oliver brings up something related to mom... Shizuku looks a bit frustrated through the better part of this exchange... Maybe he expects us to already know this stuff he's yacking about? And he brings up something related to Ni no Kuni and I no Kuni... I no Kuni is Hotroit's world?
Yep... Looks like it... Now... How do we GET there? Er... Let's try a Gate
◊ (the right one) spell here...
One Gate spell later, and we get a rendered cutscene of us getting dumped into that plaza from the second update again... ... In our mage's outfit... Er...
Shizuku beats Oliver over the head a little more about how his world relates to Ni no Kuni's, which freaks him out a bit... And eventually drags us with him...
We get an arrow to follow on the map, as well as a number of NPCs to talk to if you want. A lot of the NPCs' lines involve questions... So... Does that mean that they can see us in this outfit that makes Oliver look fat poorly-made Dungeons and Dragons cosplay set of clothes?
ホットロイトの町.
- Outward map to 工场 地区.
- The race was red arrow to go home with her.
- Use the Magic Gate back to the parallel world.
... Uh... Well there's only two districts that we can choose between right now in Hotroit, so let's go with Main Street / home. Once again, Hotroit's citizens STILL are masters of the art of egregiously bad parking, and talking to NPCs here gets more questions... There's an arrow prodding us to go into the grocery store... Let's do so.
We meet the clerk who checked up on us back in the first update, and talks with Oliver a bit... She mentions some sort of entity with a name consisting of 4 Katakana and drops a term in red... Oh. So this entity turns out to be that lardo cat from that one cutscene earlier... Who waltzes in... And SOMEHOW is able to hop onto the store counter for the clerk to pet him.
Shizuku says something... Which apparently ticks Oliver off enough into yelling at him... Mercifully, the clerk wasn't paying THAT close of attention to Oliver, and calls after us as we stroll out of the shop.
We head back to Oliver's house for the heck of it, and try a Gate spell there. And get dumped back into the plaza back in the parallel world after a short spellcasting cutscene that we saw earlier.
Let's stop here for now, seeing as the next set of instructions in the guide appears to lead us to a dungeon.
Takeaway Points:
- The layout of the fish-town that will probably wind up becoming our home away from home for a few more updates:
| Castle | |||
| Plaza | Lakeside Tablet | ||
| Alley | ↕ Between Plaza and Crossroads | Alley | Path to (Currently Blocked) Dungeon |
| Tailor | 4-way Crossroads | Weapons Shop | |
| Bookstore | Town Entrance | Inn | |
| Gate | |||
- Those crown-like things that you get after completing quests are apparently stamps. Which apparently are needed to help unlock different in-game objectives at times.
- Remember kids, it's not okay to draw on the town walls. It is okay to smash any pots and barrels that you can find and
stealtake anything in a colored chest for yourself. - It appears that this town may be ruled by a cat-person with a massive ego... And possibly in need of gastric bypass surgery and some serious lessons in trusting other cat-folk seeing as none of the guards that we have seen so far are non-human.
- Ni no Kuni is bound to the world that Oliver hails from by some sort of black magic.
- People in Hotroit appear to be much more used to people in stereotypically medieval-ish European garb prancing around than people in Ni no Kuni do to people prancing around in stereotypically small-town Eagleland garb.
- You can use the Gate spell outside of scripted events.
Stats:
- Oliver: Level 5: 45 HP / 24 MP
- Shizuku: Level 5: 50 HP / 19 MP
- Rucci: Level 6: 61 HP / 26 MP
- G: 290.
- Play Time: 10 hours, 16 minutes, 47 seconds.
Next time, we will beat something up, I swear on my tail promise.
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