Are you INSANE!? Or maybe you think you're funny? Let's Play Golden Sun 2!

♪ Inside the Great Gamboa ♪ (I don't know if that's a typo or direct Japanese translation.)

I realize I don't link songs much, just when they particularly stand out while I'm playing.

Anyway. The Gabomba Statue is probably one of my favorite dungeons in the game. What would you expect to be inside the statue of a voodoo cult?



Whatever it is, I'd bet five bucks that "nuts and bolts" is not it. The Great Gabomba is actually a massive machine.

The first gimmick you find is those red turbine-looking things to the left. Their spinning makes them function as one-way passages, and I'm sure you can guess which way that passage is turning. So we go around, and find this.



The spike for the Lashing is going around in circles, so we have to time it right so it's on the side we are. This is not hard, because Lash stops time. Tying the gear in place stops all of the other spinning things in the room, including the one-way turbines.



There's a Venus Djinni here, and not a moment too soon! (If you look up, you'll see we only have two of those, compared to 5 Mercury Djinn and 3 of the others.)

Getting to it, though, is a much greater exercise in thinking than any puzzle has yet to be. For now, we can't actually reach it, so we continue on.

The next room may disorient you for a second with all of the spinning gears, which is worse when we have to travel through this room multiple times. There's a textless cutscene (!!!) with a rat that teaches you the next gimmick.



Hopping on the gears. Of course, you can only do this if the gear's going the same way you are. But you can use this momentary increase in height to hop to another gear.


Whee!

We can use those green gears to hop over to the other side which we couldn't reach on foot. Following the path leads to a flashing gear.


It alternates between this color and the red gear color.

It's hard to tell, but it looks like it's being held up by the stakes on each side, so we Pound the one on the side we're at. Looks like we're gonna have to Pound the other before it falls, so we go up and back around to where we were before the rat showed us how fun it was to spin around.


stupid forks

We quickly get to the other side and Pound that stake in. Nothing obvious happens at first, however. But when we get back up stairs, we quickly discover something.


i am apparently bad at giffing

The gears are all reversed! What does that mean for us, though?



These two gears were rotating upward at first. Now we can hop on them and ride them to the chasm below. If we take the left one...



We can get to that Venus Djinni we saw like ten minutes ago! (the right one leads to the other side which is pointless)



With a full party of four, it goes how you'd expect.

As I'm walking, I get into a random battle. Should be pretty simp--oh.



Red Demons have the capability of doing ~200 damage with one of their specials. Combine that with both (the first one is already dead) focusing on NERD, and...yeah.

So. Lemme talk about death. Golden Sun treats it in a similar way to older games, in that you have to go visit a sanctuary (or at least a priest) to revive people, and it costs a metric ton of gold (well, 20*level). There is a Revive psynergy, though. In fact, basically every class that can learn it does so at level 19 (at least, all of the classes we can access).

We are level 17.

The revival item, a Water of Life, can usually be bought for 3000 gold in the Artifacts section of the item shop, but really who has that kind of money to waste (we do, but still)? So NERD's death will actually be felt for a bit.

The very next attack leaves BOSS with 1 HP. welp

Anyway, where we actually want to go is further upward. There's a ladder just south of the gear I keep GIF'fing. Up here, we find a one-way turbine path that was previously blocking our path, now forcing us forward.

This pretty much marks the end of the "dungeony" part of the dungeon, which is why I'm pressing forward instead of using Retreat to heal NERD. We pass by a weird room (don't worry, it'll see screenshots shortly), and go further up, where a cutscene starts.



This scene: 31. Total: 184.

So, here's how this works. First off, lemme show what the place looks like.



Every 20 seconds, Akafubu will present his "jewel" to the Great Gabomba and channel psynergy through it. When he does so, those red and blue things start having psynergy flow through the conduits they're connected to. The idea is that you want to get one red and one blue conduit connected to that statue in the middle. When you Pound the stake at the top, all of those yellowed tiles rise up out of the air. You can then either Pound them in, locking them into place, or stand on the turn panels up top to turn all risen tiles.

That tile with the dots on it is a broken tile and won't ever let psynergy flow past it.



It's a simple matter of getting everything in line before even the first time Akafubu channels psynergy. I actually end up just waiting for a few seconds so he can start. Cutscene powers goooooo!



This scene: 40. Total: 224.

Gabomba licks up the orb (no really) and remains open so Akafubu can crawl inside its mouth (no really). Our merry band of idiots manages to fail to grab the orb in time and it slips behind the statue. Akafubu discovers us, and he's about to get mad until BOSS drags him (no really) to the upper room and shows him that we're responsible for his success. After explaining the situation, he gets the statue to move inside so we can claim the orb, since he doesn't need it anymore.

freaking hell more text no i'm not doing screenshots

This scene: 64. Total: 288.

In summary: There's a magic statue behind the first statue, it magicks up a feather on Akafubu's turban signifying he's the real deal, he runs off before the statue can give him new magic. It notices us, tells us to tell Akafubu that he hasn't earned this new magic, and FOSIL gets the idea of us taking the magic for ourselves. Statue doesn't care who earns it, but now it's at the back of a cave. So we go back to tell Akafubu about this, and he gets a hissy fit that he might not get the magic.

also since this is actually psynergy and not voodoo magic

Not-Psynergy Psynergy: 1.

We also get that Black Orb, finally.

Inventory MacGuffins: 1.

After a quick stop to revive NERD, we go back into the Gabomba Statue (we can take Akafubu's path since the ceremony is over). also it's daytime

A quick examination of this cave reveals one mighty important thing: We can't do anything here. Yet.

So all that's left is to hit the town and look for treasures.

We already find a real good "treasure" within moments.



-_-

Aside from that, there's nothing other than upgrading our weapons and armor at the store. As such, we're pretty much done with this update. Next update is cleaning house before we check out NERD's boat, so it'll likely be pretty short, but I'll have a supplemental update or two up pretty soon as well. Until next time!

Leaving the Great Gabomba without NERD has him leave your party, because THAT ORB IS SO IMPORTANT. This can be vexing.

Piers

BEATNAME: NERD
Class: Privateer
Psynergy: Mercury (water)
Weapons: Long blades, axes, light blades, maces
Advantages: Looks excellent for his age, skilled at sailing
Drawbacks: Terrible people skills at best, makes you juggle Mercury Djinn for like the first third of the game

Piers NERD hails from the city of Lemuria. People who played the first Golden Sun game may know the city from talking with Lord Babi, who claimed to have learned of Psynergy, as well as the secret to his longevity, from Lemuria. NERD confirms both of these, both being a learned Mercury Adept and having lived longer than probably everyone else in the party combined (yes, counting Kraden FOSIL).

NERD was given a mission from the king of Lemuria, which I won't describe in much detail because spoilers, and is one of the few people to have left the city. However, he didn't exactly leave on his own terms, as the tidal wave that the Venus Lighthouse caused sent his ship way off course, landing it on the east Indra coast. Shortly after the fact, the Madrans took him for a pirate led by Briggs, and imprisoned him.

Of course, you all know the rest of the story, because that's been the closest thing to a goal Felix RIOT and co. have both had and are willing to pursue. He gets acquitted, but in the meantime Akafubu leads an attack on Madra for the Black Orb. Why they specifically steal that is once again, a mystery because he's a jerk and nobody in Kibombo calls him out on it because they do kinda need a new witch doctor.

Once RIOT and co. recover the orb, NERD's objective becomes to return home, but he's cool with giving us a ride to where we need to go in the meantime. Much like Jenna BOSS, NERD is a statwise reversal of Mia NOONE from the game prior, being a generally tanky dude but having access to traditionally caster classes. If nothing else, Mercury Psynergy is good for healing, so he mechanically makes for a good paladin sort.

Supplemental Update #3: Djinn

Djinn are kind of complicated. I mentioned skipping the Djinn tutorial in one of the first few episodes, but I highly recommend you actually read it through your first time playing.

The first thing to know about Djinn is that they have three states: Set, Standby, and Recover. If you remember nothing else, remember these states (and preferably their general meanings).



When a Djinni is Set, you could say it is "equipped". This does a number of things for the Adept it's set to. First off, it raises the corresponding elemental level (pictured above) of the Adept by 1. I'll get into what that means when I start talking about classes, but for now, know that this is the only way to change someone's elemental level. This may result in a class change, which is kind of a big deal, and outside the scope of this update.



Secondly, every Djinni confers a few stat changes on being set. As you can see above, setting Shade raises HP, Defense, and Luck by a few points each. These bonuses don't tend to be large, but it's hard to boost Luck by other means, and each Djinni tends to average out to about half a level overall, so it's something.



Finally, when a Djinni is set, you can unleash it in battle. Doing so causes it to shift to Standby, which means you can change class mid-battle if you aren't paying attention. Unleashing a Djinni can cause a variety of effects, just like using psynergy.



Next, we have Djinn on Standby. They are useful for one thing and one thing only: Summoning. In the picture above, in the top-left corner, you can see four colored circles and numbers next to them. This tells you how many Djinn of each element you have on Standby. Summoning a spirit requires a certain amount of Standby Djinn, depending on the summon in question. Summoning a spirit will do three things: Damage the enemy (or possibly heal you, but this is rare), raise the summoner's elemental power, depending on which Standby Djinn were used, and put the Djinn that were used into Recover.



Lastly, we have Djinn in Recover. Recovering Djinn have no benefits. There are few ways to get a Djinni in Recover, the most prevalent being a summon. They stay in Recover until a certain amount of turns pass (or after walking a certain distance on the field). The exact number depends on how many Djinn were used in the summon (with the general rule of "more Djinn, longer recover time"). After this time passes, they will automatically return to being Set, and the cycle can begin anew.

Out of battle, you may freely Set or Standby any Djinni that is not Recovering. You may also redistribute them among the party as you wish, with the caveat that everyone must have roughtly the same number of Djinn unless uneven numbers make that impossible.

In all, Djinn are your primary means of party customization, and while you can certainly just attribute like Djinn to like Adepts (elementally speaking) and have little trouble in the game, mixing things up can create some very interesting builds, and can potentially grant access to some of the strongest classes.

So you mean Chaos Lords?

The class system is probably the coolest thing about this game, and makes it hurt so much more when the rest of the game falls short.

Edit: also why isn't RIOT in the Brute series? Not only is Felix RIOT the best character for it, It matches his name so well.

I'm playing defensively, which means ALL OF THE HEALING. Also, trying weird things here because why not. (I've never actually done this without just monotyping everyone.)

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Blame Etrian Odyssey.

Anyway, one more supplemental update before we get back to the adventures of RIOT.

Supplemental Update #4: Classes

Everyone knows what classes are. Fighter, Monk, Thief, Red Mage, Black Mage, White Mage...wait, wrong game. But still, you get the idea. Classes define characters. Golden Sun has a very flexible class system. It is, in fact, probably the main thing that the game got right...if it had a difficulty challenging enough to warrant exploring it. But anyway.

As universal as they are, classes only affect two things. They give a multiplier to each of your stats, and they determine what psynergy you have access to. Sounds simple, until you realize that's basically everything that defines a character anyway.

First off, stat modifiers. There are four numbers involved in calculating your stats: The character's base stat, the stats they get from Djinn, the stats they get from equipment, and the class modifier. The first three are added together, then they get multiplied by the latter. The class modifier is represented by a percentage. Generally speaking, base classes have ~100%, classes with ~150% are pretty good, and the only time a stat breaks 200% is with HP on about three/four classes overall.

Then with usable psynergy. Classes have no memory; it doesn't matter how long you've been in a class, if you change out of it, you lose all psynergy associated with it. This also works inversely: even if you just became a class, you have all the psynergy you would if you'd been in that class the whole game. Aside from class, the other limiting factor for what psynergy you have is level. This is why I don't have access to a class's entire psynergy list from the word go.

So, what determines your class? The technical answer is that your class is determined by elemental levels and affinities. But on a more intuitive level, class is determined by the Adept's elemental type and the elements and number of Set Djinn they have. Three classes are an exception to this, but I'll get into those after the next update. Stronger classes, as a rule, require more and varied Djinn to get into. As such, every Djinni we find is critical due to the fact it allows us to attribute more Djinn per character.

To finish this, let's show an example. To that end, here's RIOT's status screen.



As an Earth Adept with four Mercury Djinn, RIOT is a Cavalier. This gives him modifiers of 140% HP, 110% PP, 130% Attack, 130% Defense, 110% Agility, and 120% Luck. If I were to put one Djinni on standby, that'd make him a Defender, with lower modifiers across the board (most go down 10%). Now, let's look at his psynergy.



Aside from Tremor (learned from Tremor Bit), Retreat, and Move (known intrinsically), all of the psynergy shown here is known thanks to his class. Most of the time, if you stay within the same class group (going to Defender, mentioned before, would be in the same group since it's the same elements), the psynergy you know doesn't change. Though, sometimes higher tiers of a class group get psynergy that lower tiers don't. Here, for example, downgrading RIOT to a Defender would remove the Wish psynergy. As it so happens, the next psynergy he will learn is Revive at level 19.

And...that's basically it, as far as classes go. Next time we'll have an actual update, where we finally get a boat!

I just realized, way way later that I BEATNAME'D 2 people NERD.

Well whatever.

Piers sucks.

Would DORK or GEEK work as alternatives?

YES. YES THEY WOULD.

Terrifying.

Episode 11: Cross-Continental Runner

So as I've half-spoiled in the last few posts, we're finally getting a boat today! We've got our magic rock to use NERD's boat, and we're off to sail to...wait, where were we going again? Ah, screw it. FOSIL'll probably mention it before too long.

Anyway, I think it's probably a good idea to drop by Madra, let them know NERD got his rock back and they don't have to worry about the Kibombo anymore. So off to another continent we go! But first, the Gondowan Cliffs!

...And before that, the Kibombo Mountains!

NERD's Frost psynergy lets us freeze puddles to make pillars, giving us shortcuts we didn't have before. The downside is, like WUSS and Whirlwind, he has to be in his base class. The upside?



More Djinn to collect!

This one actually runs away, so I have to leave the screen and come back for it to reappear. The second time is a success, getting us the Jupiter Djinni Waft!



Here, we see BOSS upgrading her class, granting her various buff psynergy. Impact, in particular, is pretty amazing.

But that's all of note here in the mountains. Next up, the Cliffs Naribwe! The fortune teller might have something good!



Well screw you too.

But no, this is actually important. Our main goal for the next quarter of the game is directly connected to this hint.

It is the only hint you will ever get.

...Anyway. Onward we go, this time to the Cliffs!

Frost features a lot here, so NERD's Djinn go to Standby again! The absolute most important thing you can find here right now is this.



You might remember a few updates ago where I found a similar item, the Laughing Fungus, and said it was vendor trash. This is not. Do not mix them up. (If you're not sure which is which, the one you can reach without NERD is trash.)

...Despite me seeming to remember otherwise, that's the only thing of importance here. The rest is skipped past pretty easily. Back to Madra!

Near the elder's house, there's a new red-haired NPC nearby. She doesn't start a cutscene, but...


If you're wondering, I said No to the prompt.

...uh-oh. In case you don't remember from Kalir's profiles, Menardi BLZIT was one of the hilariously ineffective villains from the last game.

She is currently dead, and this 'sister' lady doesn't look like she plans on taking the news lightly.

And then, attempting to walk past her prompts her to again ask where BLZIT is. I'd say it's a cutscene, but it's a single textbox, so it doesn't even qualify.

The elder's house, though, does have a cutscene.



This scene: 30.

Now, wait just a minute. I know it's been, like...the entire game since our goals were established, but I'm pretty sure Lemuria was not on the tour guide! focus people we have lighthouses to light

Bah. Whatever. Outside, there's actually another cutscene. This one...this one is actually important. I'm gonna have to do more than three textboxes.



This scene: 57. Total: 87.

Let's sum up what we learned: BLZIT has a sister. She is mad BLZIT died. She wants to take revenge on the killer; that is, ANIME. She probably has a partner. Also, RIOT has loved ones involved? What? WUSS teases BOSS about things she shouldn't actually know. FOSIL is fooling no one, considering he was drooling just moments ago at the chance to go to Lemuria.

NERD is probably wishing he stayed in prison.

Also we got another stupid psynergy item.

Inventory MacGuffins: 1.

Anyway now we leave Madra, and go to the boa--what?



This scene: 10. Total 97.



This is the first of several events that are a result of transferring data from the first Golden Sun. In that game, ANIME, WEABU, and POCKY teach these fools a lesson. They didn't quite like that and they wanted revenge. We mention their names, so these guys feel like beating us up too.



Now is a good time to mention that this happened when ANIME was around level 7. New cutscene.



This scene: 17. Total: 114.

They start panicking or something about going to jail, even though they haven't done anything since they got out last time. We let them go, they drop the Golden Boots you see above. Since basically no one has anything in their Shoe equip slot and probably won't for a long time, this is basically a free stat boost.



A pretty good one, too. (Also pictured: The effects of BOSS's class multiplier.) I give it to WUSS to speed her up. Something notable is that if you didn't transfer data, you would never have the opportunity to get this item. Hooray, completionist's nightmare!

Anyway. Now we go to the boat Kibombo! wait what

(On the way, RIOT hits level 19 and learns Revive. I am now unstoppable.)



Why are we back here? Well, near the end of last update, I mentioned that the cave behind/underneath the Great Gabomba was a roadblock for us. No longer so with the Cyclone Chip! (also at this point i realize i forgot to do something in madra so we'll have to go back afterward)



Welcome to the Gabomba Catacombs! With the Cyclone psynergy, we can blow away the tall grass here and interact with that spinny thing over there. We end up using it enough that I assign Cyclone to the L button for easy casting.


WUSS used Razor Leaf!

Generally speaking, it's probably a good idea to blow away all of the tall grass. Sometimes they hide useful items, like permanent stat boosters. Using Cyclone in range of those spinny things causes us to be...sucked up by it or something? I dunno. Either way, we fall through to the next room.

As it happens, the one in the picture leads to nowhere and there's a hidden one under the tall grass above.

A few rooms over, we find a Mint (boosts Agility permanently) under some tall grass, proving what I said moments ago. Another piece of grass hides a puddle we can Frost to jump across.

We find some grass arranged in a familiar pattern, and...yep!



Hiding a door. (It should be noted that all of the grass are covering puddles, so even if you blow it away, the six markers are still there.)

Also, I missed the screenshot, but one of the Red Demons (or maybe it was a Doomsayer) down here dropped a "Staff of Anubis". Hey, it's a stronger weapon for the girls, so I'll take it.

The next room has actual enemies hidden under tall grass. ...Well, *an* enemy. Notable in that it takes two turns to kill by mashing A, at least.

This is also the final room, so there's another mini Gabomba statue here, also a cutscene.



This scene: 18. Total: 132.

Basically, the Gabomba gets us to promise not to tell Akafubu we stole the magic from under his nose. 'kay

What does the Tomegathericon do? I'll get into that later. (Also, as a kid, I parsed the name as "tome-gather-icon".)

Anyway, I use Retreat to jump out of the dungeon instantly (all RPGs need something like that).

By the way, if you're on actual hardware and don't have access to a turbo button, I highly recommend getting the boat first. There's a shore right next to Kibombo so you don't have to trek the whole way on foot.

And now, the boat Madra! Because I forgot something.



See this guy? If you talk to him, you're given an item prompt. Talking to the old lady on screen tells you he wants a "Gondowan mushroom" because his back hurts or something. Well, that Healing Fungus came from the Gondowan Cliffs, right?



This scene: 7. Total: 139.

Woo, new Djinni! And this one's Mars!



Woo, new class! And this one's got Wish!

Everyone's got four Djinn now, but WUSS still needs a Venus Djinni so she can get another class change.

...As it happens, I missed a Venus Djinni in the Gabomba Catacombs. BACK TO GONDOWAN!

In case you're wondering, I'm probably slightly overleveled thanks to this, but not that much, since the encounter rate is fairly reasonable.



Ah, here we are. For all the work it took to get here, it goes down about as fast as you'd expect.



A second Revive user! Hooray!



With that, my Djinn have been relatively equalized. Until you can reach six Djinn/person, it's generally best to stick everyone with one element of Djinni. Maybe not necessarily their element, but an element. Once you hit six, though, you can start mixing things up for fun and profit.

Now, we can finally go to the boat!

...wait. Where is the boat, anyway? Why, we passed by it back when we first got to Madra! Go look near the end of...Episode 3, I think? Yep, that's NERD's boat, and not BLZIT's, like FOSIL thought it was. Here's a map, if you've gotten lost:


Not pictured: Any of the lighthouses.

Anyway. BOAT!



...Of course we do. Nothing can be simple, right? Oh well, what's the worst that could happen?



Crud.

These Aqua Jellies are on the map, and to fight them, you have to talk to them. When you defeat them, they...melt? and become puddles you can Frost over.

What's that? You didn't want to micromanage NERD's Djinn every time you had to freeze something? TOO BAD, THE FROST JEWEL IS IN THE OTHER GAME.



Rooms tend to be hopscotch puzzles involving various mixtures of crates and frozen Aqua Jellys. Every single battle consists of everyone attacking once and killing the lone Jelly. There is never any sign of resistance.

The difference is this guy.



♪ Boss ♪

Interacting with him causes all of the Aqua Jellies in the room to merge together into this Aqua Hydra, who actually has the boss music playing.

...wait, Golden Sun has bosses? If you forgot (it's okay if you have), we've fought a total of...three bosses so far. The Chestbeaters in Kandorean Temple, the King Scorpion in Yampi Desert, and Briggs in Alhafra.

We are about halfway through the game. Final Fantasy V, this is not.

Anyway, Aqua Hydra! Weak to Fire, so use that if you've got it. Otherwise, just plug away. It's got a bunch of health, but it's not that strong, so it's not a problem, really.



Didn't even have to cast Revive.

Beating the Aqua Hydra floods the room, letting us get to the far door which, wouldn't you know it, is how you get to the power chamber NERD mentioned. Cutscene time!


I think FOSIL has ADHD.

This scene: 30. Total: 169.

Also mentioned: Handwave-y justification as to why we can't go to any place from the first Golden Sun. (Quick version: Too many mountains in the way.)

One important thing is that sticking the Black Crystal in the ship removed it from our inventory, meaning it's no longer sucking up a slot! Woo!

...I'm not lowering the MacGuffin count.

ANYWAY. Open seas! Open exploration! It is up to you, dear readers, to choose what we do next!

• How fares Champa, home of the pirate Briggs?
• The town of Izumo, at the base of Gaia Rock, is preparing for a yearly ritual where a maiden is sacrificed to a serpent god.
• A power is rumored to be hidden in Aqua Rock, hanging on the edge of the world.
• All new sailors should pay their respects at the Sea God's Shrine.
• Old legends have been passed down in the town of Yallam, and what of Taopo Swamp that neighbors it?
• Screw all those places, I'm going treasure hunting.

What do you do?

It'd be a shame to miss a yearly sacrifice, especially now that you have the mobility to go see it! Think of the cutscenes culture, the experience! Maybe you'll become best bros with the serpent god and he'll give you more macguffins nice things.

Treasure hunting why not.

Some time ago I started a rom hack of Golden sun two which had one goal, to make the combat more noticeable than a single speck of dust on something you're not even looking at. They decided to make the combat more exciting by boosting all the stats, giving every enemy at least two turns each round, and making them always act in a set order to keep RNG from screwing you over. They also gave the squire class series the growth psynergy because it was annoying to have to switch to one of the several classes that had it about 15 times over the entire game.

After you started this LP I decided to get back to it, having fond memories of how it made the parts of the game I actually cared about actually worth while.
I did not think the the main character of Golden sun two having the same name as me was the coolest thing ever. Not in the slightest.
All in all I don't really agree with a lot of the actual combat balances this edit has made. But unless some one went and rebalanced all the Djinn and classes, and then went on to make the game more Like Etrian Odyssey in puzzles and difficulty I would never really be completely happy with Golden sun.

As for where you should go next, I went to Sand Land Right after getting the boat first, but you need to go to either that or Water World first to get the Djinn in either area. I say you go antagonize a pirate and his grandmother first.

That sounds like hell. I like it.

WHERE IS THIS HACK I WANT IT NOW (i do not actually want it now)

Assuming that last one's the vote.

The sad thing is about 2 hours after I made that post I remembered you can't even do that yet so go take a mud bath in taopo swamp or something this game is so dumb.

I'm pretty sure I ca--oh wait. dang it blah

Well if you can't hit Champa what's the point? Go load up on treasure and hypothermia until you can.

So, we've got 1 vote for Izumo/Gaia Rock, 1 vote for Yallam/Taopo Swamp, and 2 votes for treasure hunting. I'll keep the voting open for about six more hours or so, then whatever's in the lead gets picked (if there's a tie, I reserve the right to choose between them).

Anyway, on to the next supplementary update!

Supplementary Update #5: Class-Changing Items



The three items you see here are kind of unique. When you equip them to a character, their class group is forcibly changed to one of three groups, depending on which item you're using. The Mysterious Card holds the power of the Pierrot, the Trainer's Whip grants the capabilities of the Tamer, and the Tomegathericon whispers the secrets of the Dark Mage (not the same Dark Mage class that Water and Wind Adepts can become with the right Djinn). All three of these classes have wholly unique psynergy not learned by any other class.



The Mysterious Card and the Pierrot, found in the Kandorean Temple, is the first of the item classes you will find. Fittingly, it's...kind of lackluster. Its primary focus is in the Card family of psynergy, with the Flame, Thunder, Bramble, and Frost Cards for elemental damage and the Baffle, Sword, Sleep, and Death Cards for status effects. The Juggle series of psynergy gives it reliable Fire damage long after Flame Card is obsolete, and Backstab and Sabre Dance give it elemental physical attacks that are the only things worth using at endgame. They also learn the Avoid psynergy relatively early, reducing encounter rates for a set time. But that's not an exclusive.



Next up, the Trainer's Whip buried in the sands of Yampi Desert. Where do I even start with this class? I guess I'll first mention their standard psynergy, encompassing Cure Poison, Restore, Impact, and High Impact. Next up is Whiplash, a pretty decent elemental physical attack. Then there's the rest of their psynergy. Every unique psynergy besides Whiplash is named after a monster. Every time the Tamer upgrades their class, their "monsters" also upgrade, becoming brand new psynergy. As such, the Tamer class group gets twenty-eight unique monster psynergy. However, there are only ten different "types" of psynergy, with the other eighteen being downgrades (or upgrades, depending) of those. In this group, there are two single-target healing psynergies, two party healing psynergies, one revival psynergy, two standard attacking psynergies, and three elemental physical psynergies, all of varying elements. To sum it up, they're basically Red Mages. :P



Now, for the Tomegathericon, the secret knowledge of the Kibombo witch doctors. They actually don't have many exclusive psynergies. First off, there's the non-exclusive psynergy. Haunt, Curse, Condemn, Drain, Psy Drain, and Revive. (Before you ask, since a psynergy's strength isn't based on any stat you can easily control, Drain and Psy Drain cannot be used to lock down an enemy forever like you might be able to with similar skills in other games.) Afterward, they have a powerful set of wide-ranging Fire psynergy with Raging Heat, Fiery Abyss, and Dire Inferno. Poison Flow and Fire Puppet are also used for status effects. But where this class really shines is in the Call series of psynergy. All three of the Call psynergies are elemental physical attacks, so they'll scale where other psynergies don't. Every Dark Mage knows how to Call Zombie, so the attack associated with that isn't *that* powerful. Advanced Necrolytes can Call Demon for a powerful strike that may even reduce the target to 1 HP. But only the mightiest of Necromages can...well, I'll cover that psynergy when we get to it.

Now, you have the class item equipped, but that will only get you to the base class of the group. You still need Djinn to get to higher tiers. Fortunately, the rules for figuring out which Djinn you need are fairly simple. Each tier requires one each of the Djinn whose elements the Adept is not. That wording might be confusing, though, so here's an example. RIOT, a Venus Adept, equips the Trainer's Whip and becomes a Tamer. If he sets one each of a Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter Djinni, though, he will upgrade to the Trainer class. One more of each makes him a Beastkeeper, and finally, three of each will make him a Beast Lord. Looked at from an elemental levels standpoint, you're trying to balance their elements.

There aren't any more class-changing items, but the three we have are pretty varied and useful...well, two of them are, anyway.

Treasure hunting it is! I am in a particularly Golden-y Sunny mood today so I will probably have the update up soon.

Episode 12: I'm Stupid



And so, finally, we have a boat. Let's go to the Western Sea and light some lighthouses, eh?

...how do I get to the Western Sea?


???

The grey-ish parts are shoals that the boat can't pass through, if you're wondering why I can't go under the whole thing. Looks like I might be able to squeeze through the Gondowan Cliffs, so let's try there.

♪ Battle - Ship ♪

The battle music changes at sea, which is pretty neat, especially since you've been listening to the standard theme for who-knows-how-long at this point. Battles are easy as always, though, so you don't get to listen long.

Anyway. Gondowan Cliffs. We can enter by boat, so we do.



Bah! Stupid rock. I actually called this out a while back:

I wasn't referring to the tightrope there.

What do I mean by that? I mean that this rock is our direct obstacle for this entire fourth of the game. Every action we do (and as you saw, we have a lot of actions) from here to the Western Sea is done with the purpose of getting rid of this rock. ...in a rather roundabout way, of course.

So, anyway! You guys picked treasure hunting, let's hunt treasure!





What do these rusty weapons do? I'll show them off at some point, but not now.

But not all treasures are at sea! Now we go to the islets scattered around the world!

...Actually, one more thing first.



THE WORLD IS FLAT. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, "COLUMBUS" OR WHATNOT? EVERYONE KNOWS IF YOU SAIL TOO FAR YOU FALL OFF THE WORLD. Pfft, "the world's round," he says. "Like a sphere," he says. Round, my arse.

Now we can go to the islets.


I'll be showing off world map locations now, since it might be hard to keep track of now that we're seaworthy.

There are a total of 4 NPCs on this island. And two penguins.


Yup, that's two of 'em, all right.

We obviously can't talk to penguins, but we can Mind Read them. Apparently, the one on the far shore, with the bow, is hurt and needs help getting back. So we play hopscotch among the moving ice floes.



Why carry penguins when you can just straight-up push them like crates?



Inventory MacGuffins: 1.

Yes, that's all there is to do here. We came here just to get a shiny rock. Next island!



Population: Two treasure hunters, one bird.



You can just barely see this island's entire puzzle from here. Our goal is to climb up that vine. To do so, we have to freeze the puddle. Then, to get on the ice pillar, we have to position the two crates so one stacks on top of the other in a place where we can hop to it, then from it to the ice pillar. It should be noted that once you stack the crates, you can't move them.



Easy as pie. (If you screw up, you can leave and come back to reset everything.)

The bird's nest is up here, and as you approach, the bird flies over and perches on it, presumably to protect it.



Inventory MacGuffins: 2.

That's right, this is a fetch quest.

To the next island!



Population: Five humans, one horse.

...um. I'm actually kind of embarrassed to admit this, but...

...we can't do anything here yet. Whoops. That kind of brings this update to a screeching halt. Sorry! I guess...choose another option, now!

Oh wait, you need Parch to access Tundaria Tower, don't you.

Oh well, all that treasure hunting is hard work! Let's take a year long vacation in the tropics near Aqua Rock.

You also need sand to talk to a cow, climb a tower next to Champa, get a djinn in the tropics, and get a summon that you also need parch for! Golden sun!

But I agree, you should go have fun in the sun.

* horse, actually

** wait which ones are these

It's a cow. It gives you milk!

Also haze is hanging out off the edge of the world by the tropics you're going to, and you need sand to get under some ankle high rocks to get it. Ulysses is hidden in a reveal mini dungeon in Izumo and requires sand and parch.

Just so you guys know, I'm gonna be putting this LP on a short hiatus until I get moved into my dorm at college. That happens Wednesday, so I'll probably update again on Thursday.

Update tonight! Get hype!

...what do you mean, I'm two weeks late? LIES!

Episode 13: Obligatory Swimsuit Edition

...So, let's just ignore my absolute failure at remembering things last time. That option shouldn't have been on the list in the first place. Oh well!

So anyway! You guys voted for Aqua Rock, so to there we go!



...okay, I lie. We don't come here yet. First we take a short detour.



Here at the Apojii Islands, there's...not really much of importance. The all-purpose shop (since the town's too small to have separate weapon/armor/item stores) has a Dragon Axe in its artifacts section, but that's about it. Technically, the Great Sword on sale is stronger than the Disk Axe, but it's not a Psynergy Weapon, which means no Unleashes, which basically makes it useless. The various armors are incremental upgrades, though, since you've probably got gold burning holes in your boat.



There's also a Djinni perched on the edge of the world, but we can't do anything about it at the moment. Our real reason for being here is in the town square.



If you remember Air's Rock at all, you'll remember the whirlwind stones that were everywhere. Aqua Rock is pretty much the same gimmick, except with Douse. Dousing the Douse Stone here causes it to rain for a bit, making magic water flow to Aqua Rock and moving those tiki statues we saw so we can enter.

It makes about as much sense in context as it does there, trust me. And so, now we can go to Aqua Rock!

Like Air's Rock, it does the whole "outside dungeon, then inside dungeon" gimmick, but this one's at least marginally more interesting, even if there's still no boss.

Anyway, the first puzzle gimmick!



These waterfalls will push you to the level below if you step in them. Some of them periodically stop flowing momentarily, some of them always flow. You'll have to get past them, and later use them to reach lower levels.



The steps don't give you any mercy, either.



I think you can guess where this is going. Except you'll want to push the log to the far statue, since its waterfall covers a long stretch of steps that is impossible to climb in the short break it gives you. Onward to the upper screen!

...Not that you do anything here except let a waterfall carry you back down. Why go through the effort?



Because we couldn't get on this side of those rocks before. On the level below, we find a dry tiki statue.



I think it's pretty clear what you have to do. One Dousing later...


Yes, the small cloud of rain I created gave the statue infinite water. Why do you ask?

The purpose of this, of course, is to use the waterfall to be carried to another previously-unreachable section. Down here, we find another Douse Stone (sitting in front of a waterfall; you'd think that would have triggered it by now). Another magic rainstorm, but no obvious effects. ...Well, I say none, but that's only from a screenshot's view. If you see it in motion, however...

...okay, I forgot how to make GIFs. But the thing is, that waterfall there is now flowing up. Yeah, I don't know either. In any case, we use it to get back up.

By the way, basically every chest here is useless. Ignore them.


Actually I lied.

On the next screen, there's another Douse Stone, which summons another rainstorm and makes the pond on the level below get a...thing?



I don't even know what you'd call that. Anyway, jump in and it'll suck you to the inside of Aqua Rock.