Let's Play Legend of Legaia Pt. XVI -- Blowin' Shit Up
That's right, this shit isn't dead. You may want to go and refresh your memory. It's cool, I'll wait.
When we last left off, we'd just received the Fire Droplet from Tieg and are now ready to create a TimeSpace Bomb. Are you excited, guys? I'm excited.
Dr. Usha: Good work! I'll send down the elevator right away!
I like the elevator guys.
Dr. Usha: You came back with the Fire Droplets! Tell me! Tell me about Uru Mais! Tell me about your dreams! About Tieg! About the Fire Droplets!
Dr. Usha!
Dr. Usha: (Silence) Yes, I suppose you are right. We have no time to waste if we are to free the world from the Mist! Now then! Give me the Fire Droplet!
Statham gave the Fire Droplet to Dr. Usha!
Dr. Usha: So this is the Fire Droplet, the mysterious treasure! I feel such powerful energy! Assistant 1! Assistant 2! Are you ready?
10 years cooped up in this little lab together and he still doesn't refer to them by name. Harsh.
Temperature set to 8400! Reactor heating smoothly! Standby complete!
Dr. Usha: Begin heating once the imperial solvent is ready!
He chucks the rock into the reactor, which turns all nice and rainbowy.
Flash protection ready!
Fire extinguishing system ready!
Dr. Usha: Insert!
Damn, that's bright.
Dr. Usha: Sometimes I even impress myself! Ha, ha, ha! Here they are, the TimeSpace Bombs!
Statham now has four TimeSpace Bombs!
Dr. Usha: Why four TimeSpace Bombs? There is a reason. Listen! One is for blasting open the entrance to Nivora Ravine. Place it in front of the block of ice at the entrance and press the switch. The bomb will explode three seconds after you press the switch, so find shelter quickly! The other three must be set off simultaneously.
Dr. Usha: Thunder Tunnel, Fire Tunnel and Wind Tunnel. You must each enter a separate tunnel! Each tunnel leads to Koru. When you all get there you must set the TimeSpace Bombs at the same time! Koru can only be destroyed by the combined blasts of all three bombs! Good luck! I know you can do it. You can melt the ice of Buma!
Alright, objective acquired! Let's go blow shit up.
...After talking to a bunch of people, that is.
I like you because you're the strong, silent type.
Once the Mist is gone, I'll be your tutor and teach you about a lot of things.
Stoic and bold, and a little bit playful!
I really like the elevator guys.
I'm afraid I have to give you a test again.
What, another one? All right, let's get this shit over with.
Very good! Now, second question. Where will you use the TimeSpace Bomb first?
->Uru Mais
->Koru
->Entrance to Nivora Ravine
->Buma
Ooh, you're all so smart! Now, how long after the switch is pressed will the TimeSpace Bomb explode?
->Three seconds
->Two seconds
->One second
->Game changes after 3 seconds
Correct. Now for the last question. Why do you want to destroy Koru with the TimeSpace Bomb?
->A TimeSpace Bomb is there.
->Because we hate Nivora Ravine.
->To destroy the Mist Generator.
->To awaken Buma's Genesis Tree.
Precisely! If you're lucky, it will stop the flow of cold air from the Nivora Ravine and melt the ice around Buma's Genesis Tree! Well done! You certainly are heroes - and smart! You got every question right!
Statham now has five Healing Berries, five Healing Fruits, and five Magic Fruits!
Mrs. Usha: Those are your prizes! Nivora Ravine is cold, so make sure you don't catch a cold there! Good luck! I know you'll be successful!
Damn straight we will. Once we, y'know, get around to actually doing all that. Diary-reading comes first!
Bounty Month, 23rd day. They came back from Uru Mais. They seem even stronger now. But they also seem downhearted. Perhaps it is just my imagination.
Alright, now that that's finished, on to the Nivora Ravine!
The entrance is indeed covered with thick ice! Time to get to 'splodin' shit.
Garzan: Oh, goodie! Goodie! There's gonna be a BIG explosion!
Nathdran: I'll set the TimeSpace Bomb. When I press the buttons, I'll give the signal. When I do, run and find shelter!
Garzan: Nathdran, it explodes in three seconds, right?
Nathdran: That's right.
Garzan: In three seconds, Nivora will change! In one, two, three!
Nate just facepalms a little before getting to work.
Statham and Garzan wander off to find shelter while Nate sets up something that looks suspiciously like a switch for dynamite. I am somewhat disappointed in you, TimeSpace Bombs.
Garzan: Dr. Usha, you liar! I counted right! I counted one-two...
Nathdran: Was it defective? Why did it explode so soon? Is everyone alright? Well, there are no doubts about the TimeSpace Bomb's power. Look at the entrance!
So the bombs are a good deal quicker than planned. Hopefully that won't be a problem! And Nate's not kidding. All the ice that was in front of the entrance is gone.
Garzan: if the TimeSpace Bomb is so powerful, why didn't they use it on the Genesis Tree in Buma? Then they could have melted the ice on the Genesis Tree right away.
Terra: No, no, you can't do that! Now listen, Garzan. A powerful bomb like that would destroy the Genesis Tree - and Buma and everyone there!
Garzan: Oh... I guess the TimeSpace Bomb is too powerful...
Aww, but it'd just be a little nuking! Anyway, Nivora Ravine! Not the most visually exciting dungeon we've had.
We do have a couple of new enemies, though.
Rock Lizards are an upgrade from Stone Turtles and they can do Earthquake now. Lava Faces are kind of on the tough side but not terribly notable aside from being new. To this LP, at least. Remember way way back at the Gate of Shadows, where I said getting the elements mismatched would result in a mini-boss? The monster we would've had to fight was a variation on this model.
We reach the top of the mountain and are rewarded with a brief cutscene.
It's a bunch of Soren!
Aaahhh...
This is our chance to charge the Floating Castle!
Don't be hasty! Zora is powerful!
Luctes: Quiet! Someone's coming!
Garzan: Statham! Nathdran! Over here! There's no Mist over here!
The Soren beat feet wings.
Garzan: (Silence)
Nathdran: What's wrong, Garzan?
Garzan: That's strange... I thought I saw someone nearby...
Nathdran: I don't see anyone.
Garzan: Never mind! Statham, Nathdran! Let's go!
Let's! First off, what's this in this chest over here?
The Warrior Icon is kind of a neat accessory. It shunts the wearer to the end of the attack order, but if the wearer is set to do a melee attack and an enemy tries to melee them first, then the wearer will interrupt the attack with their own. Which can be pretty nice indeed. Statham gets to wear it.
And there's a save point right before we reenter the mountain. I usually don't point out save points unless they're of the Conveniently Placed variety, but I am pointing this one out especially for reasons I will explain later. Just. Remember that this is here.
Right inside the entrance, the path forks in three directions. Let's split up, gang!
Nathdran: We'll have to split up from here and make way on our own. Statham, Garzan. Are you ready?
->Yes
->No
Nathdran: Good! I'll take the Thunder Tunnel on the right, and head for where we'll set the bomb.
Garzan: I'll take the middle tunnel. That means you have the left tunnel, Statham.
And off they run. The three tunnels have a bit of special control to them. We control one character at a time, and can press Square at any (non-battle) time to cycle through our characters, Statham to Garzan to Nate back to Statham and so on. Beyond that it's pretty much business as usual. We start with Statham, naturally.
First things first, though, the enemies we encounter around here!
All enemies are in one-on-one fights, which is really nice when one is playing and not so nice when one has to post screencaps of how almost everything here is new. Well, relatively so. Everything here but Amethysts are new versions of monster types we've already encountered. Also appearing are Stone Lizards and Lava Faces still.
A little ways into the path is a side cave with a treasure chest in it.
The Mettle Gem cuts all the wearer's AP costs by half. It is hella sweet. Statham's not going to be wearing it.
A little bit further in is our first obstacle! There's this big pillar thing blocking the path!
It won't budge an inch no matter how hard you push.
Uh-oh, how are we going to solve this? By switching over to Garzan, of course!
So, interesting quirk of the tunnels: our inventory is still shared between our three characters. Which means that Mettle Gem Statham picked up? Yeah, Garzan can equip it.
Look at how low those AP costs are now. Unf.
We walk as far as we can down the path until it ends kind of suddenly in a cliff. But as we approach the edge...
Five bucks says Statham can move that pillar now and conveniently give Garzan a way to cross at the same time. But before we do that, we have to go through a bit of Nate's path.
And a little ways into the path here, we've got another treasure chest with something nice in it. We've been getting a lot of those lately.
The Spirit Jewel allows us to use 25 percent less MP, which is less nice than the Mettle Gem's 50%, but still pretty nice. Nate's wearing the hell outta this one. This combined with that Magic Grail you may or may not remember us acquiring last update makes inns barely non-obsolete. Aww yeah.
And there's Nate's first obstacle! Back to Statham!
And we're free to move on!
...At least until we hit the next obstacle.
Back to Garzan!
Nice of that pillar thing to have a bridge on top of it. Not too far past it is a lever that just begs for some use.
Convenient!
Garzan encounters no more obstacles and is the first of the three to reach Koru!
Koru's a pretty ugly-looking thing.
Now that we're done with Garzan for now, control automatically switches to Nate.
Off through the gate we go! And hey look, we're conveniently passing that giant snowball Statham was eying earlier!
Do you wish to push the giant snowball over the edge?
->Yes
->No
That wraps up everything for Nate's path, so the next stop is Koru!
Ozma: Now we have to wait until everyone is in position.
Everyone being Statham in this case.
Luckily this snowball is the last stop for him until he gets to Koru!
Yes, time to blow this place to high heaven! Statham jumps in nice and close to Koru's little ice nest and starts fiddling with his little switch box.
But of course it is never that easy.
You remember these assholes, right? Of course you do.
Lu Delilas: A millennium of Mist and followers is our goal! That is what we promised Lord Zora!
Che Delilas: Swine! You are enemies of Lord Zora and therefore our enemies. You shall die!
Aaaaand now it's ridiculous posing complete with SHING!s time!
Yeah, there's. There's really not much that can be said about that. (Beyond "Garzan is adorable.")
The game quite nicely stops for a minute and allows us to prepare ourselves before the fighting starts. As you may or may not recall, the last time our heroes encountered the Delilases, Gi mentioned a family tradition of one-on-one battles. As you hopefully also recall, our three heroes are split up, anyway. So we get to fight all three of the Delilases individually. First up is Nate vs. CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Fuck, I hate Che. So much. He is THAT BOSS. Let me explain why. For starters, a one-on-one fight means that if he drops Nate, fight's over and that's that. Second, he hits hard. One could even get away with saying he hits damn hard. Possibly even really fucking hard! Thirdly, remember that save point I pointed out earlier? That was the last time we could save. We die here, we get to go all the way back there and go through the split tunnels again. And, of course, he's fighting Nate, who is our least hardest hitter (and on this playthrough the only one who hasn't got enough room for his Miracle Arts yet).
Also, the Delilases attack in a set pattern. They do their normal melee two turns in a row and then their special attack on the third turn. This makes strategizing against them pretty easy... once you know about it. Of course, as hard as Che hits, you'll probably die a few times before you see it enough to figure that there's a pattern there. Especially when none of the other bosses to this point have followed a set attack pattern like that. So there's that, too.
Che's special is the Megaton Press.
Oh, I failed to mention: the Delilases' special attacks aren't just attacks nasty enough to deserve having a name; they are downright theatrical spectacles. Another reason for the loathing. Because you see this every third turn. Like goddamn clockwork.
HAVE I MADE MY LOATHING SUFFICIENTLY CLEAR YET?
But in the end I manage to kill the bitch.
Note that Che drops the Thunder Book III!
(SPECIAL BONUS VIDEO: How hard Che hits when you don't fit yourself to his pattern.)
And he falls right off the edge. I am going to relish blowing up your corpse with Koru, Che. It will be delicious.
Lu Delilas: Get over here, kid! I'm gonna send you to the next world!
Noa imitating Lu continues to be adorable.
After Che, Lu is nothing. It took me about 7 minutes to take her down, which is the least time I've spent on a boss since we fought those two Viguros in East Voz Forest. Like Garzan, Lu's strength is her speed, but Garzan outclasses her in that area and. Pretty much any other area. The point is that Lu is kind of a pushover!
Her special attack is Plasma Strike.
It's even less flashy than the other two.
Wind Book III! \o/
Over she goes!
Gi is much closer to Che's level than to Lu's. Heck, he would quite possibly be worse than Che if he came first. Hard to say. Part of the trouble I had with him was just getting Statham enough AP to do his damn Miracle Arts. Gi's only notable inherent quirk is that he uses the fire element just like Statham does, so he's got a resistance going.
His special attack is Blazing Slash.
It's pretty stylish.
And, predictably enough, he drops the Fire Book III.
And there's the last of the Delilases killed! Now we should be able to blow Koru up at our leisure!
Nathdran: Alright, everyone! Let's set the TimeSpace Bombs!
Nathdran: All we can do is press buttons and run like demons. Ready? Press on the count of 3! Three! Two!
And the screen goes black. Always a good sign!
Che Delilas: B-Brother... I'm a wreck. Help me, my brother!
Oh what the fuck. Come on, we kicked your asses and then blew up TimeSpace Bombs on you how are you not crispy corpses?
Gi Delilas: Where is Lu? Is she alive?
Lu's even still standing! Man, these bombs suck.
Gi Delilas: Look! Koru is still alive! The thermal energy... The thermal energy he's stored in his belly for so long... Let's release it!
Lu Delilas: Brother! Do you mean the three of us will merge with Koru?
Gi Delilas: Correct! Lu, is life that precious to you?
Lu Delilas: N-No! Of course not!
Che Delilas: Har, har, har! In doing so we lay waste to all of Karisto! I like it!
Gi Delilas: Listen! We must use our remaining strength! Those Ra-Seru will wish they'd never been born!
Lu Delilas: Uh!
Che Delilas: Arrgh!
Gi Delilas: Koru, silent Seru! Make us one with your life... and your fate!
They merge with Koru and man that shit does not look like good news. Fucking cheapass TimeSpace Bombs. You suck, Dr. Usha.
Nathdran: Such a strange light! Garzan, Statham! Look! It's Koru! The light is coming from Koru!
Garzan: Huh? But we blew Koru up with the TimeSpace Bombs!
Meta: It seems the Delilases have merged with that Seru and commanded it to self-destruct! If Koru blows up, everything between here and Sol will be vaporized!
Garzan: No!
Nathdran: How could this happen... Ozma, how can we stop them?
Ozma: I don't know, but since they are controlling Koru, perhaps if we defeat them...
Terra: Whatever we do, we better do it quickly!
At least we get to save now. But before we do that or fight Koru, we've got a few books to read.
Aw, yeah. A few more little adjustments, and we're ready to fight Koru!
Garzan: Yeah! If Koru blows up, you guys will die, too!
Gi Delilas: Ha, ha, ha! We are all prepared for death!
Che Delilas: Once Karisto is flattened, Lord Zora will build the kingdom of the Mist there!
Lu Delilas: If you want to fight us, come on over. We'll play with you until the explosion comes.
Nathdran: That suits me just fine!
Ozma: Be careful, Nathdran! If we don't finish them quickly, we'll be caught in the explosion!
Alright, so it's time to fight Koru! Because we totally didn't just finish with three other fights! Sob.
And it's a fight with a weird gimmick, because we totally didn't just finish three other fights that had a weird gimmick! Argh.
Koru's weird gimmick is that the fight is timed. See the Turns: 4 in the upper left there? On the fifth turn, Koru explodes and it's game over. See the HP Left: 100 in the upper right there? That's a percentage. Koru has a lot of HP and we have to get rid of it all in a pretty short timeframe. As such, I'm changing up my strategy.
Fury Boosts give us an extended action bar for the entire fight, as you may recall.
Actually using the Points Card for once!
And the rest of it can be summed up as "spamming Garzan's Ark" and "spamming Kemaro". Koru, thankfully, hits soft enough that his attacks can be basically ignored.
Victory is ours!
Meta: Koru, too, became evil only because of the Mist.
Ozma: Seru merely amplify the strength of humans.
Terra: Whether a Seru does good or evil ultimately depends on the person using it.
Garzan: But Terra, you're a good Seru, right?
Terra: Hmm. We Ra-Seru are the way we are because we have been in the human world too long. Now, let's go back to Buma.
Garzan: OK. The ice in Buma must be melted by now.
With all the effort we've put into defrosting that place, it damn well better be melted by the time we get down there!
The streets of Buma bob up and down in the water, it's pretty neat.
Garzan: Statham! Nathdran! I don't believe it! Buma isn't frozen anymore!
Nathdran: You're right. I didn't know Buma was such a beautiful town.
Garzan: Stop standing around! Come on, we've got to wake up the Genesis Tree! I'll go ahead of you.
Nathdran: Ha ha ha! What an impatient girl! Come on, Statham, let's go!
Garzan: The ice on the Genesis Tree is melting away!
Garzan: Terra! Now we can wake up the Genesis Tree!
Terra: That's right. Since there are three Genesis Trees, let's split up.
He felt a gentle warmth in the palm of his hand.
She felt a quiet power in the palm of her hand.
He felt pure joy in the palm of his hand.
I like the three trees growing at once. It strikes me as particularly pretty. Kind of a shame we don't get to level each Ra-Seru thrice, though.
Garzan: I'm so happy, Statham! Terra feels stronger now.
Alright, what's next?
Oh, that's right. Someone owes us a Ra-Seru Egg!
Cara: Well, excuse me, but I was watching you the whole time. It's amazing. So the Genesis Tree of Buma had such powers after all. I thought that it was too late for us to do anything.
Garzan: Um, Cara... Can I have the Ra-Seru Egg that you have?
Nathdran: Now that Buma, your home, is back to normal, you don't need the Ra-Seru Egg anymore!
Cara: Sorry, but I haven't got my "time" back yet. So please, just leave me alone.
Dammit Cara I remember our deal very clearly and it said you'd give us that Egg when we awakened Buma's Genesis Tree. Maybe I should've gotten a contract in writing.
Cara: I buried something here. That day, I buried my heart here.
Nathdran: There's nothing we can do, Statham. Let's leave Cara alone for now.
Garzan: I didn't know you could bury your heart and still live. Oh, I just don't get it!
As we walk off, Statham's startled by some passing shadows.
Nathdran: Humanlike bodies but with Seru Wings. Those are Soren, all right. They must have found out about Buma's Genesis Tree. They've come to take a look!
Garzan: Hey, Soren! It's me, Garzan! Over here!
Nathdran: Ha, ha, ha! Garzan, you're too far! They can't hear you.
Garzan: I wish the Soren would land over here.
Nathdran: Hey, that's a good idea. If we had their help... Then we could get to the Floating Castle, where the Mist Generator is. We just have to talk to those Soren.
Garzan: The Soren! They're gone.
Garzan: Cara, you're bleeding! Your hand is all bloody!
Nathdran: Cara, is that it? Is that what you buried in the ground?
Cara: Ha! Go ahead and laugh, if you think it's funny! You're right. This is the only memory I have left. This is the music he... Grantes wrote after hearing my song.
Garzan: It must be love! That's great, Cara! That stands for your love! I don't know much about love, but... Let me see that!
Cara: Uh...
Garzan took the Music Score from Cara.
Garzan: I'll take this music to Grantes for you. Leave it to me!
Cara: Well... thank you.
Nathdran: We don't really have time for that but... Oh well.
Cara: Please, do this for me! I'm sure that if Grantes hears that song, he'll change his mind.
Man, that Ra-Seru Egg had better be worth all this, Cara! But before we go kick Grantes in the face again deliver this music, let's talk to the fine people of Buma!
In other words, Conkram could no longer be reached on foot.
Well that's inconvenient.
That was against Soren law, and Grantes had his Seru Wings taken away for that.
Hey remember how we got a girl drunk in the bar in Sol and she told us a story of a Soren who fell in love with a human girl after she played a song on his flute if you know what I mean? Seems it's less mythical than we were lead to believe.
Before the Floating Castle started spewing out Mist, I saw... something. I saw a Soren flying from the east to the west. But there was something funny about the way that Soren was flying. So I looked closely, and I couldn't believe my eyes! That Soren was carrying a child!
Garzan: I know! That was me! The Soren was carrying me!
Well, my goodness! So that was you? What a coincidence! So that wasn't an illusion after all!
Garzan: Statham, let's find the Soren! They can take us to Conkram!
The only thing of note left in Buma is the presence of some new and exciting equipment in their weapon shop that, as always, I cannot quite afford all of just yet. But, hey, that's OK. We're going to be walking to Sol and back anyway, after all, so we should have enough by the time we get back here.
Next time on Let's Play Legend of Legaia: Soren!