Grinding: it's not just for coffee anymore. Let's Play The 7th Saga!

As I mentioned awhile back (and as the old guy mentioned just now), we need to hike to the northeast tail of the continent.



Monster groups get a little tougher in this area, which is our cue that we're headed for Serious Dungeon Times.



Not that you'd be able to tell from the outside...



Inside the Cave of Baron, we find a palette-swapped Flame. In the grand tradition of monster naming, this monster is named... (drumroll please)



Tada! K.Moon. Presumably, he's a distant cousin of the Spidek-swaps we fought earlier.



We also find an Undead swap. There's one called Unded and one called Undeed and I don't know which one this is because I died. Suffice it to say that the monster namers weren't really trying by this point.

Death count: 45



Dispirited, LAVOS takes out his frustration on a nearby Wilme.



Results!



No, the real reason we're here is to change up partners. As usual, I reset until I get the high-level version. This is merely a convenience, but it's a very convenient convenience.



Goodbye, Esuna. It was a true pleasure working with you.



Old men are in this season. Here's the new hotness: Valsu.

A side-by-side comparison of stats: Valsu vs. Esuna. There isn't a single stat where Valsu isn't significantly better than Esuna. (Actually, Esuna had more MP! But you don't see that here.) Remember, this is because of the NPC apprentice stat boosts, not because Valsu is inherently better than Esuna. (Although he is inherently better than Esuna, and also the rest of the cast. Valsu for life!)



And as an afterthought, LAVOS's stat block. The massive bonuses that the other apprentices get mean that the power gap between Valsu and LAVOS is small and shrinking... not that it's going to matter. Valsu is the last partner LAVOS will ever have.



Oh hey, that answers my earlier question.



Just a little way into Baron, we run into a brand new color of dragon. Let me preface this battle by telling you it's the worst one in the game. Not because of the difficulty... well, you'll see. Anyway, grab your 7th Saga Boss Quotes list, because...



...this one has even more Rs.



Our opponent is Monmo. He attacks by making rocks fall on your head, just like any other dragon.



One thing you'll notice very quickly is that your attacks do almost nothing to Monmo. Everything you throw at him deals a single point of damage.



Compounding the problem is the fact that he can drain up to 50 HP from you with each casting of HPCATCHR...



...and he can keep doing that as long as you've got fuel for MPCATCHR to absorb.



The good news? Fire attacks deal a modest amount of damage. But Lejes is the only apprentice who's likely to pierce Monmo's defenses with a native FIRE spell. If you don't have a good Lejes, your best bet is to use the Light Rune on your spellcaster and have him/her blow through your stock of B Fire.



But here's the thing! Nine shots of B Fire won't finish Monmo off, even with Valsu's hyperinflated Magic stat (pictured here with the Light Rune boost). So how do you approach this battle?

First, spend all of your MP as quickly as possible. It doesn't really matter what you cast.

Next, wait for Monmo to run his MP dry. At 220 MP, this can take a little while, but this makes the battle quicker than the alternative. You don't want to run through your B Fires only to discover that Monmo can cast HEAL 2. (By the way, Monmo can cast HEAL 2.) PETRIFY is Monmo's only other spell, and because it's more expensive than the others, it's also the one you want to see most often.

After that, start unloading. You only have nine B Fires, so make them count. In my case, I made sure Valsu was the one to use all of them. Once they're gone, use any means possible to take out the rest of his health.



I was extremely lucky to have Valsu's hyperboosted Magic along for the ride, since his ICE 1 managed to break Monmo's defenses, if only just barely. If nothing works, stick with regular attacks (not defend-attacks), since a critical hit will deal 2 damage.



Well! THAT'S over with. There's a good chance that Monmo is here so that you won't go further without getting your magic back, but you can see here that I didn't actually need to cast anything to win, so it didn't really work as intended.



A little past Monmo, you'll exit the Cave of Baron, which is too bad, since I really liked the glowy-blue thing it had going on and you won't see that anywhere else in the game.



This short, monster-free path leads to the doors of Gorfun.



Sure is castle in here, huh, guys?



Here, you'll find a familiar but long-forgotten face. They still change their appearance when damaged. I still love their look. Nothing else in the game does this! They also follow the trend of poorly-named palette swaps.



If you reach this area, then you're in a completely optional side branch of this dungeon that I didn't know existed until this playthrough.



There's an upgraded B.Night here, inexplicably named V.Night, who showcases the F BALL spell that has shown an alarming increase in frequency lately. You might also notice that LAVOS permanently has zero MP now. He hasn't touched his spell list in ages; the Chimeres just sapped him dry and there's no reason to do anything about it.

At the end of this branch is treasure.



The most valuable treasure is this Fort[itude|une|y|ification] sword, equippable only by Valsu and Esuna. The fact that it is the most valuable but not necessarily the most useful means that it may not be worth your time to come down here. At this point of the game, Kamil and Lejes have a sword with 67 attack power and Olvan has an even better axe, so Valsu isn't exactly playing with the big boys, but a 12-point increase is significant all the same.



Back in Gorfun, we find Gariso's sleeping quarters. We've been sleeping on a cold inn floor lately, so this bed is looking real nice right now, but this isn't the time for a nap.



Heeeeeeere's Gariso! He has a rather imposing sprite.



Surprisingly decent quote, too!



And we... wait, what?

Oh, riiiight. That whole thing about Moonlight, right?



Yep, using Moonlight makes him appear. You can't hit him otherwise, but since he's also no more threatening when he's invisible, you should still spend the first few rounds setting up on him.



He occasionally disappears instead of attacking. If you have a party of two, this is great, since it means someone got a free move.



Par for the course, a POWER-boosted LAVOS punch is the solution to this problem and so many others.



Honestly? Gariso's not so bad.

Hooray!



Double hooray!

Look at these Runes. Aren't they neat?

Wouldn't you say... my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you say I'm the--



Well, balls.

No one expected Gariso to be the last boss, though, so this is hardly unexpected.



Okay... that was unexpected.



It follows that we've inevitably released GORSIA, right?

♪♪ Gorsia's Death March ♪♪



What



WHAT



Whaaaaaaaaaaat



Mind: blown! The 7th Saga has an actual plot! This is an actual cutscene! Man! The first time I made it this far, I was completely floored.



Having just completed the ostensible objective of the game, I receive no reward but a kick in the stomach!

GAME OVER


BAD END

Death Count: 45
Grind Count: 1
Unavailable Apprentices: All of them

Next: ???

If I recall right, Mrs. Gorf is the normal teacher, not the substitute. Ms. Jewls was the substitute, and she just stayed on since Mrs. Gorf never came back.

You made me look it up! Mrs. Gorf was the original teacher, but when Louis ate her, Mrs. Jewls took over.

Wikipedia also mentions, "There is about over 6 books in the series."

I don't know, it sounds about as reasonable as what Pison keeps doing.


"I came from the past through a time tunnel, and am now K. GORSIA!"

Well you WERE promised great power in exchange for getting all the Runes. He might have been a god of darkness, but you can't call Gorsia a liar just because he hit you with the business-end of a lightning bolt.

Also: Gariso is kinda cthulhu-y

... I always assumed that the symbol before KRYN was a bra... having only ever played through with Esuan/LUX...

I guess they're shades?

Maybe Valsu is just progressively minded?

Could be a manssiere.


So, what happens if you get to Gorsia Gariso but don't have all the runes (like, an apprentice took them or whatever)? Do you not get to fight him?

The answer to this and other burning questions is coming in Intermission #10. (Psst, if you have burning questions, this is a good time for them.)

The KRYN is suppose to be a mask, I think. (I don't know why I know that. Maybe I saw it called the Kryn Mask in a FAQ or something?) Then again, I have no idea what "kryn" means...maybe it's a "cryin'" mask? Or a KRYptoNite mask?

Mogri: Are you planning to talk about Olvan's secret bonus cave? (I think it says something about me that I never really figured out the battle system, but years later I still remember that "Monkey has a red bottom.")

Talk about it? We've been there already! That password is ultra-cool, though, so I might mention it again. Meanwhile:

Intermission #9: Shameless Plug

So how about that 7th Saga, huh? While we're waiting in this nebulous void until we figure out what's going on with the plot, how about some advertising?


Don't ask me why I decided to use one of the ugliest monsters for a screenshot. I don't know either.

Do You Want to be a Hero? is my take on a combination between The 7th Saga and Half-Minute Hero, taking the battle system from the former and the time limit and stage structure from the latter. (Actually, though, I never played HMH until this past weekend, so it's technically based on a game that's based on HMH. But the heritage is still there.)



The game starts gently enough, introducing the four characters that are thinly-veiled remakes of Kamil, Esuna, Wilme, and Valsu. After that, you're able to choose your character for each level. And the difficulty ramps up.

The best thing I can say about the game is probably that players have wildly different assessments of which character is best. I've found many other players like Bruce and Ansa for their raw power, but I'm personally fond of Pyotr and Dowaine. Dialogue changes slightly depending on your chosen character for that added bit of replay value.

The one caveat that I'll throw out is that the game ends abruptly. The stage-based nature of the game means that it's easy to expand, but there's no obvious way to end the game. As a result, the eighth or ninth level simply consists of a message that basically says, "That's all, folks!"

But if you're itching for some 7th Saga action without, you know, playing The 7th Saga, then this is the game for you.

What are you waiting for?

Okay! There are parts of 7th Saga that seem neat, so what the hell, I'll give this a try. while my seven LPs decay into obscurity

(Psst, Kalir! You'll have to let me know how terrible you thought it was.)

#10: A Brave New World



























LAVOS and Valsu awaken in an unfamiliar town.

"How unfamiliar is it?"



Something's wrong here. No one knows what we're talking about, but more importantly...



...that unholy terror we just unleashed on the world? Is gone. What???



Ah, okay. We have some context now. SARO rose up and defeated GORSIA once again, just as he did 5000 years ago.

But where are we? And how did we get here?



Well, that's one question answered... kinda. As for the other, I seem to remember we have a map.



Uh.

Ah... hah.

We're not in Kansas anymore.

♪♪ Battle in a World of Fading Hope ♪♪

The game does an excellent job of conveying a sense of unfamiliarity in this new world. The enemies are completely new, not just palette swaps from the last area. The battle music is completely different and has a wild, uncontrollable melody to it. And one more thing...

The game forced us to use the Runes as a crutch. It gave us a profound appreciation for just how completely powerful they were.

Then it took them away.



According to the Wikipedia article on The 7th Saga, it's possible to find yourself in an unwinnable state here: having crossed a threshold of no return, if you are unable to defeat any of the monsters immediately surrounding Pharano, you have no recourse and no means of progressing in the game.



Your friendly local LP author thinks that is a total crock. It is my opinion that you would have to deliberately and willingly put yourself into that situation, and any party capable of defeating Gariso can easily defeat one of those ghoul guys pictured above. If you really wanted to, though, you could:

• Keep your primary apprentice dead starting as soon as you get a partner. (When your party dies, only the primary apprentice is revived.)
• Sell off everything you own once you reach Pharano.
• Kill yourself repeatedly until you lack the necessary funds to revive your partner.

Congratulations! Mission accomplished! You have screwed yourself over. But you have to plan to do this so far in advance that it is not even an option for a casual player. (I mean, to the extent that a game like this has casual players. You will need to adjust your definition of the word accordingly.)



Anyway, do what you do best and stumble around until you find a new town. Hooray! It's Pasanda. Do you know where sad pandas come from? Sad pandas come from Pasanda. Pasanda sad pandas are the saddest sad pandas.

My brain turned to oatmeal while writing the preceding paragraph.



Pasanda's deal is that it's a town of artists.

Pasanda's real deal is that it's a pit stop between Pharano and the next town.



There's also some niggling doubt about the whole SARO situation here.



Also, notable equipment upgrades we won't be purchasing now.

Been there. Cool place. I looted all the treasure, though, so.



No, I can't believe it, because every other NPC has told me the exact opposite



Wait, what?

Aw craps. We're gonna have to save the world, aren't we.



This tavern is a hotbed of vital information.



New enemy alert! This is either the S.Witch or the F.Witch, whichever one the original wasn't. It takes a beating but isn't particularly hard on its own.



New enemy code critical, meltdown imminent! This REDACTED is Spirit, the Mutant of the new world. His hobbies include THUNDER 2 and killing you.



Finally, everyone's favorite enemy makes a reappearance. This time, he's called Griffan or Griffun or something.



He casts BLIZZARD 2 to make sure you're having a fun time. Pictured: Valsu is having a fun time.

I'm sure I died during this segment, but I started offscreening most of my deaths at this point.



Anyway, helpful taverngoer #2 gave us a handy pointer towards the next town, so here we are.



Ligena has an enormous chapel filled with acolytes who direct us towards the prophet. Ready for more exposition? Okay!

What? ...Oh!

Ohhhhh. It all makes sense now! So SARO and GORSIA are... and Melenam is... and we're...



Of course, the game is kind enough to presume that we might not be total dunces.



GORSIA, you scoundrel! Using time-bending magic when your opponent doesn't have any is cheating.



Hey, Ropesu is stimulating the economy! And you act like this is a bad thing.

Since his name is in red, that means he's important, which means we need to find him. Okay.



Okay, see? Ropesu is running a perfectly legitimate business here. But we're not exactly bleeding cash, so I guess we'll swindle him.

If Esuna is your leader, you get a free ride. Ropesu has a thing for elf chicks.



Everyone else either pays up or goes all Metal Gear Solid on this airship. (Lejes and Wilme don't have a choice -- they are denied passage outright. Because they're ugly.) This is the least exciting stealth sequence in any game ever, because in order to get caught, you need to initiate a conversation with the guards.



Even so, they just boot you to the street, and you're free to try again.

In short order, you'll enter the airship. You need to talk to the captain here.



Hooray! Off to Melenam!



The airship has exactly one frame of non-animation. Is it mechanical? Is it a giant bird-beast-thing? I don't know, but I like it.

Death Count: 45
Grind Count: 1



Next: Melenam, Land of Milk, Honey, and Tetujin

I downloaded and played your game. So far I'm stuck on the second world, where the mountains are candy corns.

But I am determined to forge onward.

Bonus tip: You can always run from any battle.

Whoa hang on... this game has a plot??

Only after you reach the part that you think is going to be the end of the game.

It's brilliant!

okay done!

As far as making the game seem like 7th Saga only less hateful, this was a pretty good rendition! Lowering the number of characters to cut down on superfluous choices like Kamil or Lejes was a good idea, and the characters all had a feel to them that none of the others really had.

• Pyotr, by the end, was by far my favorite, and not just because he was cantankerous as hell. Early access to buffs and healing spells, as well as being passable at physical combat, was supremely helpful. The key weakness Pyotr seems to have is that he takes a while to get up and running, meaning if the enemy is fast they can interrupt and take him down.
• Duwain was fairly close by. Unlike everyone else, he doesn't seem to have an area he excels in, but damn if he isn't versatile. He can fight, he can heal, he can use magic... reminds me of Radiant Historia's Stocke, actually. His downside, of course, is that you'll only ever have him fully equipped if you save your money explicitly for it, which of course means fewer consumables and less room for error in tough fights.
• Bruce... well, I didn't use him much, but what I did use, I liked. He does one thing, and he does it extremely well, and the fact that he never gets new equipment means you can send that gold to consumables instead. If anything, his downside is that he's too simple. His spells are sometimes neat, but he hasn't got nearly enough MP to put them to effective use the way anyone else can.
• Ansa strikes me as the weakest character overall. I mean, yes, she's got the largest MP pool, early access to offensive magic, and won't ever be using her basic attack so she can spend rod money on consumables instead. She's just so fragile! And the fixed damage on spells starts to be a problem after a while, although to be fair she gets the better spells fast enough that it's not terribly problematic.

The gameplay itself was pretty much exactly as advertised: short bits of 7th Saga style gameplay, only without the total hatred 7th Saga tends to bring with it. Good way to pass an afternoon.

Problems/bugs I encountered:

• Siphon seems to be weird as hell. Once I used it on a Conjurer or something and it restored HP then said it didn't work, and once I used it on a Trick and it actually damaged me. What.
• miss
• Fifth chapter is bugged as well: if you choose Pyotr, he doesn't actually recruit Duwain, just has a small conversation with him, and Duwain remains on the map, preventing you from continuing. You can get around this by playing Duwain instead, because after that first fight it's functionally the same anyway, dialogue aside.
• miss
• Guard Up and Guard Down seem to overwrite each other rather than cancel out. I'm not complaining, that behaviour saved me in a chapter 6 run, but I'm not sure if that's intentional or not.
• Sometimes encountered glitches when alt-tabbing out of the game, including spontaneous full-screen mode with no way to disable, menu flashing, game crashes, and so on.
• miss
• But seriously, I'm not sure what misses add to the game, I mean yes, accounting for it adds to the strategy involved, but there's no real way to anticipate it. I've had fights go awry because I missed a key target four times in a row. I wouldn't mind that mechanic just being done away with, or adding some way to mitigate its effects.

Shame it ended as quickly as it did, I'd like to play more!

- Pyotr brofist!
- Duwain gets the best equipment, making him a really excellent choice for levels that give you lots of money.
- Bruce's biggest advantage is definitely his low expenses. The fact that he's so straightforward is probably why I don't like him so much.
- Ansa is better than you're describing. Her indirect spells are surprisingly good - Petrify and Death especially - and she probably has the highest damage output at any level. Her capstone spell, Explode, does a ridiculous amount of damage (in part because it uses a slightly different damage formula).

As for the bugs:
- I'm pretty sure I fixed the drain-on-miss bug at some point, but this is the first I've heard of getting hurt from it. (I practically never used Vampire, but I've seen other people get good mileage from it.)
- Bleagh. I could swear I fixed the chapter 5 bug at some point. This must be an issue with this not actually being the latest version of the game or something.
- I don't remember if the Guard Up/Down behavior is intentional. Let's say it is.
- That is an engine bug that I could easily fix by including a more recent version of the game engine.
- You are not the first person to complain about misses. I will say that some enemies (the @#$! bats) have an intentionally high speed relative to the time you fight them. In a slight departure from the source material, spells in DYWTBAH have a modestly higher base accuracy, so there's that, at least.

Thanks for your feedback! If you enjoyed DYWTBAH, I have two more tasteful suggestions for you, neither of which should take much more than an hour to beat.

So... knowing he couldn't win, he went to the future where no one would be able to defeat him... so... Gorsia is actually a reverse-Aku?

GRACIOUS!

I was thinking more along the lines of "I, GORSIA, will knock you all down!!" (All two of you...)