Welcome to the fourth update, record keepers! After a quick battle in the Lugarde Plains (W), in which we meet and overkill the first Hell Dog enemy, we are finally at Trizon Fortress! Unfortunately, an extremely long series of events plays out once we arrive, and I wasn’t in the mood for much playing afterwards. For those that don’t really care about plot, all you need to know about this update is that Sieg’s getting a fetch quest and will be accompanied by a little elf girl and the larva she summoned all by herself. For those that do care, read on!
As the event begins, we see Sieg report to a man named Eleazal, who then takes us to Ernesto. I can’t help but notice that the ears of both of these men are triangular, and that their hair is parted similarly; how exactly are these two men connected? Anyways, it seems that Giganda, our friend with the creepy face that gave us the task of guarding Mimel, has already been through here and debriefed Ernesto about the situation. When Ernesto starts to talk about the importance of the girl, said girl interrupts by saying “...Her name is Mimel.” I guess she still doesn’t quite understand how to properly speak, but at least ‘her’ is a more appropriate word than ‘that’.
Thanks to Ernesto, we finally learn just why the Light armies consider a scythe-wielding loli their trump card, and it’s not because she was able to revive Sieg after he sacrificed himself to save her...a decision which sounds more and more foolish as we learn more about Mimel. Getting back on track, in order to win a war, it’s usually a smart move to have better weapons than the guys you’re fighting. The problem is, if we want to make a magical item powerful enough to win this war against the Dark forces, we’ll need help from a guy named Calinou. And not only is Calinou a larva summoned by Mercury, one of the six gods on the Dark side, he’s also been sealed away ever since he tried to help the Light side by giving them weaponry. Thankfully, even though Mercury was apparently tricked into working for our opponents, Calinou is probably still sympathetic to our side and will be loyal if we free him.
But what role does Mimel play in all this, you ask? Well, there are apparently two things that make her useful: her magical ability, plus her mysterious power of Liberation strong enough to break seals placed by the gods themselves. Our current problem, though, is that Sieghart is now the one that possesses these talents. And even though Mimel’s magic will return eventually, it’s uncertain if her power of Liberation will come back as well. She’s a bit sad that she’s caused Sieg so much hassle, but he’s a nice guy that tells her that he doesn’t mind shouldering her burden.
With that explanation out of the way, Ernesto gives us a mission. While having the power of Liberation is one half of the requirements to free Calinou, we also need to gather rare materials and create a key. Sieg’s also tasked with continuing to protect Mimel, partly because she might remember how to take her power of Liberation back from him along the way, and partly because she’s so fond of Sieg that she’d probably chain herself to him and throw away the key if given the option. So, with her in tow, our next destination will be the mining town of Asieh. Ernesto also permits us to bring half of our troops, including the man from Inicio, which I assume is referring to Eugene. Eleazal also requests that we bring along his young but talented daughter, which sounds to me more like he’s trying to get Sieg to date her than to rely on her for assistance on the battlefield.
On our way out, we meet Captain Vashtor, another pointy-eared man who’s apparently one of Sieg’s old pals. They have a bit of casual conversation, including such tidbits as claiming that the other guy’s too serious, wondering when the war will end, and the desire to fight alongside each other some day soon. One statement that caught me a bit off guard, though, is when Vashtor mentions that Dark larva manifest with all of their strength intact, and he wonders how larva like himself will last. Considering that the first larva we encountered was only somewhat humanoid, this makes me wonder just what a larva is. Back to the story, Mimel thinks Vash is scary, but senses kindness within him.
Back with our main forces, Eugene’s glad to be the chosen one, while Linda pretty much begs us to come. Eugene points out the impracticality of her coming along and starts to make fun of how inexperienced she’d be trying to navigate his homeland, which actually causes her to start sobbing. I’m now presented with my first dialogue choice, and it’s a good thing that choosing to stop this immediately helps me get the true ending, because Eugene’s just being a freaking [CENSORED]. After the game indicates that Linda’s affection has risen while Mimel’s has decreased (perhaps she’s jealous?), Sieg starts to berate Eugene for being so rude. Eugene says that he’s only so cruel because nobody else would dare act that way towards Linda, and he’s just expressing his love in a weird way. Friedli-
WOAH! Why is she...oh, yeah, I forgot; I clicked on a button in the option menu that allows you to see a character’s currently equipped costume in event scenes. Where was I? Oh, yeah; Friedlinde has her first line of dialogue after that choice was made, and she’s now wearing a maid outfit. Sieg makes her feel better by leaving her in charge of the other half of the troops, and that she’s the only one we can rely on to keep order while we’re gone. She’s happy, but would still prefer it if that cruel beast Eugene didn’t have to come along with us.
Long event so far, huh? Well, the final part of it is when Sieg and Eugene leave the fortress. There, we run into a young girl and a larva much more monstrous than the ones we’ve met so far, and in my opinion, that includes Vashtor. The girl, Alice, is Eleazal’s talented daughter, and the creature wielding two spears is named Galios. Sieg, Eugene, and Mimel comment on how big & strong Galios looks, and then we introduce ourselves. Remarkably, Mimel actually says ‘I’ when she introduces herself, finally getting the hang of first-person pronouns. Eugene then tries to approach Alice, but is blocked by Galios, who senses dark intent. A bit worried, Eugene turns to us to help convince the guy that he’s a paragon of sincerity, and while our sarcastic approval isn’t really appreciated by Eugene, at least the scene doesn’t end in a bloody mess.
With all that dialogue over and done with, we’re given 4 Silver Ore, 2 Fragments of Life (the revival item I had 3 of earlier), 50 Enhancement Points, 45 PP, 1500 G, and the option to fight on a new battlefield. This ‘Force Field’ layout differs from the Basic model in that there are tiles that can increase or decrease the strength of the unit standing on it. Since few monsters thus far have done more than 50 damage at a time, I decide to use this new battlefield in order to give myself an advantage in random encounters. Finally, we’re brought back to the main map screen. Now, let’s look at our new party members!
Alice is specialized around magic, with an S growth rate for INT, B for LUK, and C for the other Major Stats. She starts at Level 2, with 7 STR, 6 VIT, 7 AGI, 15 INT and 9 LUK. She starts with two Special skill slots (one of which is empty), a Light skill, and an Extra skill, and will earn a Lightning and another Light skill slot upon class changing. Galios, on the other hand, is focused on melee combat, with S growth rates for STR and VIT, D for LUK, and C for the other two Major Stats. He also starts at Level 2, with 14 STR, 14 VIT, and 5 AGI, INT, and LUK. He starts with two General and two Power skill slots, just like Friedlinde, but will earn Fire and Dark slots upon changing class. Now, Galios is clearly better than Eugene in all but one stat, but due to his Combo skills (and the fact that he’s still our only swordsman), the blue-haired jokester will still be of use in battles to come.
Finally, before I finish this update, I just want to investigate what exactly a ‘larva’ is. To quote Galios’s profile, “Galios is what is known as a larva, who normally only exist as spiritual entities within the Boundary. However, by attenuating to the resonance projected by the magic of a high elf, a larva is able to cross over into the physical world and construct for itself a physical body that will best fit the needs and thoughts of the elf that performed the summoning”. My little character data guide can also tell us everyone we’ve heard of so far that is a larva. Arzeast and Giganda, the two guys we met after rescuing Mimel? They’re both larva. Hass Calinou, the guy we’re supposed to free? He’s a larva. We’ve already been told Ernesto, Vashtor, and the now-dead Varacade are larva. And Eleazal, Alice’s father...isn’t a larva; he’s just a High Elf with ears as pointy as Ernesto’s. Go figure.
That’s all for now, record keepers. Next time, a new path has appeared where we fought the poorly-named Worm Tail, and it should eventually lead us to Inicio. Also, we can now access the game’s first stores at Trizon Fortress! I hope that all those Poison Needles that I keep getting from Hornets are worth a decent buck...oh, and don’t forget! If you disliked this update, or any of the previous ones, feel free to say so in a comment so that I know what to change in order to make my audience happy!
