Fresh. Let's Play Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass!

Music: The Toys Move on Their Own

This is the last Jeff-in-a-Bag. They can attack normally, use ice magic, or watch you, which telegraphs shrouding their party in thick smoke. Smoky enemies will dodge 50% of all attacks. What's more, this smoke apparition thing is a ghost, and thus resistant to physical attacks but weak to light. It's very annoying.



Music: Overlook Amusement Park

Jimmy barely tolerated Mr. Beaver's rules, Molly. No way he's listening to you.



Music: The Toys Move on Their Own

Oh yeah you can find Super Rad Ghosts here. They're still way too fast for even a Hyper Jimmy to keep up with.



Music: Overlook Amusement Park

Oh, a teacup ride. That's it, huh?



After taking the toys, they spin a bit.



Shortly after, we find ourselves in Hug Monkey's jungle.



It probably looked a lot better in the past.



We find our destination at the end: a tent with a close-enough interpretation of Jonathon Bear on it.



I guess this was a fun house?



If we try to vampire into these, we just get into a fight.



With one exception. This appears to vary at random, so you have to examine all the mirrors to find the one that doesn't have ghouls within.



We're just knocking these all out, huh.



Anyway, the hall is pretty short, just one twisty corridor.



And you won't believe me, but we're at our destination.



Music

Just this TV here at the end.



Today's going to have a very special episode.



Music: Morning Lullaby

It's time for a retrospective.



We already loosely know the story of Jonathon Bear, at least as he relates to Jimmy. This here, though, is the most detailed and thorough account of how it went down, without being muddied by the dream world and the Pulsating Mass. It's a sad story, without question, and that in a vacuum would make anyone feel bad for Jonathon here.



Music

But let's not forget what the Jonathon of the dream world did. Being hidden away by Jimmy is absolutely no excuse for pushing Punch Tanaka over the edge with his words, nor for trying to be one hell of an abusive "best friend" to Jimmy after the fact.



At the very least, we can be sure that Jonathon Bear will never hurt anyone again.



I'd do it again, too. No bullying Jimmy and his friends.



In any case, Jonathon Bear is an important enough part of Jimmy's story that he is worth an energy nexus point all on his own.



You mean the theft, right? Because I have no qualms about slamdunking Jonathon into the pit. And hey, did you forget that the last time we saw Buck normal, he was saving Jimmy from Jonathon?



Jimmy isn't the only one feeling guilty. Helga really would have wanted to buy that bear for him, no question. But when your funds are stretched tighter than ever before, particularly due to things like hospital bills, even an old stuffed animal that's probably on sale can seem like a drastic choice.



Music: Overlook Amusement Park

There's still one last thing to remember.

Music

Because Jonathon won't let us forget.



Music: Morning Lullaby

Everything we've seen about the Pulsating Mass has indicated that it's a very serious problem for Jimmy. He might not have much time left to handle it. And as we've already seen, stealing Jonathon Bear and lying about it was a huge amount of pressure and guilt on Jimmy, perhaps even moreso than if he didn't have to deal with the Pulsating Mass. In most cases, if a kid steals something and lies about it, the guilt there is "my parents are going to think I'm a bad person, so I have to apologize". Here, Jimmy has to factor in that if his family finds out about Jonathon's situation after he's gone, then they're going to go on thinking he's a bad person after he's gone, which would be even heavier. This energy nexus point, at least to me, reads like Jimmy having fully overcome this fear. He's ready to apologize, and has accepted what he did. Jonathon Bear is no longer a constant presence in his mind.

Next Time: Spiders, Gloria! Giant spiders! And they're... they're living inside their skin!

The Mouse family has been through so much tragedy.

Mrs. Mouse losing her baby daughter, and her husband abandoning the family for the sake of himself, had a huge impact on her. For a good while she is mean to Jimmy, but she was just afraid for them after a low-level goon shook up the place, afraid that Jimmy might attract other unsavory types to harm her loved ones. All she ever wanted was for her family to be safe.

And then Cordelia was murdered by Mr. Cat. It's bad enough to lose a family member, but it's even worse when they're killed by somebody you trusted.

Not that we ever hear any Mouse family members' opinions on Mr. Cat other than Cordelia being concerned about his well-being and hoping that he likes her, but given that Mrs. Mouse was willing to rent a room to him over a child and presumably even let him have a say in the decor (blood red with scary paintings) she at the very least tolerated his presence in the Mouse family's lives.

Losing another daughter so cruelly was too much for her. And though she never would've admitted it, I'm sure she was also worried about Timothy a lot. So she shut down...and now there are three graves in Smile.

Mr. Marvelous and his brother are living in a hut at Information Isle. Mr. Beaver, invigorated and inspired by the late Cordelia's coffee-flavored muffin, now rules over a tower of rules. Ms. Mole is forever beneath the man (well, rodent) she loves. Ms. Robin and Mr. Grouse have both flown the coop, the former selling goods in humble booths across the world and the latter gradually going from humble hometown banker to corrupt arms dealer.

All that remains are the remnants of the mouse family: Sunny running the inn with Timothy back from his journey of self-discovery to help, and Beatrice manning the original Smile First Bank of Grouse for however long Mr. Grouse still considers it even worth keeping open.

I know the Mouse family is just a bunch of figments of a dying boy's imagination, but even so I wish them the best.

Dunno how long the inn will keep being an inn but at the very least they probably won't be hurting for money with the sizable nest egg Beatrice has built up.

Music: Carton of Smokes, Half-Smoked

Let's queue us up a new clue from Ludwig. We're super close to the magic number of 25 lightbulbs!



Music: Parabolic Smile

With Jonathonland cleaned out, we've got ourselves a Guillotine (+3 ATK, 1/6 of the Spooky Set).



Unfortunately, the benefit of the Spooky Set is pretty underwhelming. Crits are nice, true, but only a 10% boost isn't very much since there's so few ways to boost crit rate in the first place. Could be nice if you've been building Jimmy for LUK, maybe.



Oh, and we also got the Punching Bag (+2 ATK, 1/5 of the Gym Set) back in Kung Fu Tower.



Music: Finer Circuitry

I make another dive into Deep Dungeon as well, but this time I start on floor 20. If I really want to get those early toybox treasures, I need to have the starting items, and I can't do that without points.



Music: The Growing Ladder

A whopping five floors below, we finally get our first item. This is why you REALLY want those starter items. I have been completely at the RNG's mercy this entire time.



Music: Rhythm Factory

And six more floors later, we finally get a break.

Absolutely nothing happened on the rest of those floors except for points and fights. None of the fights got even close to being a threat, the real issue was the steady trickle of XP that would ruin the fun of any upcoming bosses. But dang it, I want some of the gear here! It's super cool and deserves to be showcased!



Music: Quest for the Journey

And me being the dumbass I am, I grab the wrong item. I wanted the Skeleton Key Ring, but my lizard brain picked up the Safety Tips instead. I definitely grabbed the Trick Dice Set though, I'd be an even bigger fool not to:



Music: Let's Color Today

Enough goofery. Let's hit this Abandoned Cineplex.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

Wonder what sort of place this is.



At the very least, it registers as spooky enough that Jimmy doesn't have anything to say.



There's two sides to this place, as is the usual. We'll go left first.



The stairs lead to the projector rooms. I want to check out the lower floors first.



Music: Beat Squad

New Megatropolis enemies. Super Yesman's moveset is the same as their non-Super version: normal attack, and automatically agree with all other attacks by their team for a free attack. You can steal a Beefcake from them.

We've also got the Vendomax. Likewise, its moveset is more or less the same: basic attack, watching you to telegraph a three-hit rampage, or turning on the anti-theft protocols to Grasp anyone who steals from it. Speaking of, here's the new menu.



And we've got the Corporate Guardian. They can normal attack, take some HP or MP for themselves, or reinvest the MP they've taken for a powerful scalar attack.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

Anyway, let's see if anything's playing.



Guess not in this room. We'll keep looking.



Music: Beat Squad

Robo-Chan DX works the same as the earlier model: gather courage to telegraph exploding, dealing its remaining HP as magical damage to someone. It's got more health and is faster, but otherwise works exactly the same. We can also encounter the King of Fops here.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

Something about this movie poster just speaks to me.



Don't know if you can burn all the posters, but burning this one leads to hidden prizes.



Hell yeah. The Coat of Pockets (+45 DEF/MDF) is really nice, and not just because of the item boost on the user. Did you know that item modifiers apply outside of battle? It takes whoever has the highest modifier and says they're using the item! I give this to Lars.



Well, let's move on.



Next room, maybe a toybox?



Think I have too much money.



Heading up to the projector room, all the rooms are boarded up.



Well, almost all.

Very good.



To the right, then.



Hm, guess we have to wiggle in through the movie room.



Music

Oh, there's a movie playing in this one.



Might be a bit outside Jimmy's tastes.



But he probably wants to prove to Buck that he's brave enough to watch this.



Yeah that sounds about right for gory spooky movie.



This is what constitutes a joke for Buck.



Jimmy doesn't really need help being afraid of you.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

Once the movie wraps up, a door appears in the projector screen.



Just a very normal version of Jimmy's home here.



Just your average home cave.



This section isn't super long, but it's pretty cool.



Those holes in the floor with TV static through them are neat.



Cool, next?



Huh, another theatre. Same movie here, so let's ignore it and move on.



A new movie, maybe?



Music

Yep, there's Buck working up a sweat.



Wonder what this is gonna be like.



Come on, Buck. Jimmy's just impressed. I kind of am too, you're making that look easy.



See? He's trying to be just like you! He's having a hard time with that bar though.



Come on, Buck. Be a good gym spotter.



Everything flickers.



He doesn't seem to be able to lift it at all.



Jimmy's doing his best here, but it's clearly taking a toll.

This is not proper motivation, Buck.



How long has he been here?



You're not helping at all, Buck. This is clearly too much for Jimmy to do.



Kay, this isn't funny, Buck. Help your brother.



He isn't strong enough to lift this, and it's hurting him. Buck, knock it off and help!



Busted.



You better believe Helga gave Buck a long, LONG scolding after this stunt.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

Let's keep moving.



This next area is a gym, complete with posters for Buck's favorite workout tunes supplier, Gut Punch.



There is some Luxurious Perfume hidden in here. It's nice, I guess. HP regen is handy.



Easily the shortest of the movie worlds, though.



One more.



Music

A streetlamp-lit sidewalk at night? What's this got to do with Buck?



Jimmy's here, moving fast and wearing a cap.



He's cornered by a stray dog, and it's growling something fierce.



Jimmy falls back, but just before the dog pounces...



Buck intercepts and kicks the dog away!



The dog runs off, and Buck checks on his brother.



So, throughout the game, Jimmy's been scared of Buck. And not without reason: he's a muscle-bound bully who's been pushing him to get stronger and fend for himself. I said it at the start that he's every stereotype you've had about meathead jerk older brothers, and that's been proven several times over.



At some level, Buck still cares about Jimmy. But he is absolutely not equipped with the emotional skillset to really give Jimmy the help he needs, and as a result, he spends more time hurting him than helping him.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

Put a pin in that for now, and you can probably guess why.



Let's go for a walk.



Incidentally, this event here goes a long way in explaining why Jimmy doesn't like dogs. I know that they're usually seen as dopey friends for a lot of people, and they are, but you need to be careful, because they're still pack hunters by nature, to say nothing of things like rabies.



Nearly done here.



Our destination is this small, unassuming closet on the side.

Another orb to hold on to.



Music

Are you strong enough, Jimmy?



Music: Morning Lullaby

Being a teenager is hard. It's really damn hard. Your brain goes through some major turbulence during puberty, and you have a maelstrom of emotions to sort through with virtually no experience in how to handle them. Now, take those emotions, and throw in having to deal with your little brother struggling with cancer. Stronger people than Buck have tried and failed to cope with that situation in a healthy way. It's absolutely no surprise that Jimmy's seen Buck as a threat more than a family member throughout our story here. That's super important here, for the same reason Andrew's approach to the situation is important: Buck's failure to cope with Jimmy's problems means he's become more and more of a fear of Jimmy's. To Jimmy, it's really hard to parse the problems of the Pulsating Mass (and Buck's frustration with this) as separate from Buck hating him. That's far from the truth, of course. But to Buck, the best way to deal with a hard situation is to get stronger so you can outmuscle it, which Jimmy flat cannot do.



Music: Fly Eggs in my Brain

He is already doing his best.



We're doing one more thing here before we go.



One of the projector rooms on this side is unboarded.



Let's swap this one out. We've seen all these movies, anyway.



Hey, isn't that the island where we need the lightbulbs for?



Fascinating.



Music

Oooh, we're close!



Music: Carton of Smokes, Half-Smoked

That's not a lot of info to go off of. But I have an idea here...



If you get enough tips from Ludwig, you can get a secret!



Or you can get all the lightbulbs first. That works too.



This is where the one toybox in Mute Notes is that's been bugging all you completionists for ages.



Now you can noir up the Clubhouse to your heart's content.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Once you defeat the Whisper Weaver, you can talk to Pointman to tell him about the encounter. Did you forget? Yes.



Yep. To get the lightbulb in Sunset Beach...



Music: Dead Whale

Defeat the Whisper Weaver, then talk to Pointman to get a new arm-ladder.



Music: Osaka Konnichiwa

For the rest of today, I'm gonna mess around in Shinryu, buying up furniture and stuff. Here's my Whack-a-Ms.-Mole high score, worth 1000 extra tickets.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Check it.

An Elegant Ice Swam (+3 DEF, 1/6 of the Modern Set)...

A Drafting Table (+3 MDF, 1/6 of the Modern Set)...

Some Dice (+4 LUK)...

And a Beefcake (+2 LUK, 1/5 of the Gym Set).



And the Plasma Television (+3 MAT, 1/6 of the Modern Set).



The Modern Set is exactly my jam, but it might not be yours. Extra item potency never steers me wrong!



Oh, and some hidden sets. Well-Lit just needs a lot of lamps: a Classy Lamp, a Lava Lamp, a Colorful Lamp, and a Jack-O-Lantern. It's nice if you need LUK, I suppose.



Stone Mason is about having statues. Specifically, the Easter Island Statue, the Hero Statue, the Sculpture, and the Marvelous Statue. Be mindful of that last one, that LUK penalty is pretty hefty.



And then there's Weaponized. Like it says: get lots of weapons! A Weapon Rack, a Guillotine, a Strawberry Bomb, and a Sword in the Stone does it here.

Next Time: You're a... DAMN FART is what I think!

So, good news for me: I'm finally returning to work at the theatre after like six months!

Bad news: that was the last update in my backlog and I'm right at the start of tech week, so it's time for another break.

I also might need to take another break as we start postgame for user-participation reasons, but we'll see. For now, I just need a bit of time. I'll be back soon, probably in a couple weeks!

Given that Buck's the only member of Jimmy's family to be affected by the Pulsating Mass, I'd previously wondered if Memory Andrew's line about "Should we have another?" was referring to Buck, not Jimmy. But this explains a lot about why Buck has the arc that he does in Jimmy's dream.

No worries, Kalir. Take all the time you need! You've been an absolute machine when it comes to updating this LP.

I like that at one point Timothy Mouse tells you "imagine how awkward it would be to wander around a village full of chimpanzees" and a good chunk of the game you're wandering around a village of unnerving tailless apes.

Would you like me to repeat that?

Music: Let's Color Today

Hey, remember this weird tower at the center of Homeflower, innocuously separated from everything by a small lake? Well, now we get to enter it.



Music: City of Phosphorescent Moss

Man, I love this song too. I don't know if I'd replace Parabolic Smile in the clubhouse with it, but I might!



Hey, more Buddy Bees!



Sure pal. We'll help out any bees we can! Let's get some symptoms.



Okay, so, nausea...



Overall achiness...



And depression. Got it, let's see what we can do.



Music: Motion Sickness

Some more souped-up Homeflower enemies. Shock Hornets are crazy fast, and can fire off electricity to Startle, attack with blinding speed to always hit first, or run in place, building up the static electricity to unleash a thunderstorm that Startles the party.

We also have Skitter Shamans. They can either wield ice magic or heal a teammate with first aid. They'll prioritize reviving a fallen ally if possible, though. As always, they have a Tasty Apple to steal, but they also have a Paw Chair!



Music: City of Phosphorescent Moss

Nice looking place, although the flora here is a bit weird.



Music: Motion Sickness

Ladybug Tanks are the biggest statcheck to keep you from going here first. They've got a cannon and a laser for basic attacks, but the real threat is their rockets, which hits the entire party for major damage, but have to reload to be used again.



Music: City of Phosphorescent Moss

Hm, this looks like one of the flowers they mentioned. Let's shake that sucker.



Just like that, a cloud of pollen falls onto Jimmy.



Nice! That should help with the Buddy Bee having the depression.



Guess there's some side effects.



Music: Motion Sickness

The last enemy in the tables here (aside from the Super Rad Ghost) is the Forest Guardian. They can either normal attack, scratch with diseased claws that inflict Sick, or inhale a huge gulp of air to telegraph a cloud of poisonous spores next turn. Not that Jimmy needs any help being Sick right now, thanks to the purple pollen. That effect will persist for the area until Jimmy treats the Buddy Bee or leaves (although you can cure it in each fight if you want).



Music: City of Phosphorescent Moss

Right, let's try this out.



There we go, right as rain! Hope the nausea doesn't throw them off.



Let's leave and come back so we can shake off the excess pollen, just in case.



Music: Motion Sickness

Oh, no need! Just giving the pollen is enough to clear the stat on Jimmy.



Music: City of Phosphorescent Moss

The layout for the area kind of winds around the tower in the middle, heading gently downward.



There's side paths, but nothing too onerous.



We'll even go behind it here!



There's another flower right by it. We're high-leveled enough to skip all the encounters here, so it shouldn't be a big deal to get through.



Oh no, we can't even Revolting Blob through this fence! It's simply too powerful for us!!!



Let me tell you something about Punch Tanaka, FENCE

Oooh, just thought of something with the Porcupine Suit (+60 DEF, +20 MDF). Like, it's not bad as armor, and the counter effect is nice (if perhaps weaker than a full-fledged Counter Stance) but it's not going to do as much for someone who doesn't have a way to apply Human Target. Buuuut, if you combine this with the Megaphone? Suddenly it becomes far more viable. We get this on someone with a good trinket that boosts ATK and we got ourselves a tasty build! Maybe I can try that with Buck once he stops being a mutant.



The only healing fountain in the area is just past the Buddy Bees, who are blocking the way. So the side effects from the pollen here can be really troublesome to manage.



Speaking of.



That should be good for pain treatment.



Yeah that figures.



Oh, and we'll get the last lightbulb too!



Might use this one!



Music: Motion Sickness

Sure enough, the blue pollen means Jimmy starts every fight Sleeping.



Music: City of Phosphorescent Moss

There we go! You guys'll be okay in no time!



Weird. I bet these guys only got minor effects since they were so far from the hive when it went sour.



But the Buddy Bees don't do so great when away from the hive for long, either. I hope they find a way to manage.



Whoa, watch out Jimmy!



Let's go get that red pollen. We're all done with toyboxes here, so once we get that done we can enter the tower.



We'll open up a shortcut back.



And more pollen.



Should help the nausea.



Rude. I didn't get this one seen in a fight, but it inflicts Unmotivated on Jimmy.



Anyway, here you go.



That's all the Buddy Bees treated!



Yeah I hear that.



This part's got a theme to it that merits some discussion... but we'll wait until we enter the tower.



First, our reward.



No worries.



I think this is the last one, anyway.



Right, in we go.

Music

Wonder how tall it is.



Huh. Not exactly what I was expecting.



That smell's got to be the only thing that stands out here.



Waiting rooms, huh?



Well, let's see what's at the end.



Oh, there's the last energy nexus point, but also...



Jimmy?



Music: Skin Thieves

So we've seen a lot of people get angry or upset in the game, sure. Buck is mad by default, and we've had Andrew being disappointed in everyone including himself.



In fact, we've seen everyone everywhere through Jimmy's eyes, and despite how dangerous and scary things get, none of them ever get really furious.



This is the only time in the game Jimmy actually addresses himself directly, so to speak. And more than any other character in the game, Jimmy is PISSED at himself. He shouldn't be, of course: he's dealing with something that nobody gets through easily. But just like with Lars, or Andrew, or Helga, or any member of his family, he's having a lot of trouble seeing how hard the cancer is making things. He's only eight, he doesn't know why he can't get over this illness like the rest of his classmates get over their flu or chicken pox or whatever. And, well, sometimes you're just far harsher on yourself than you would ever be to another person. Jimmy would never talk to anyone in his family the way he's talking to himself here.



Music: Righteous Scrabble

Which means that unlike every other energy nexus point, we're having a fight here, and it's Jimmy beating himself up.

Just like our own Jimmy, this boss will cycle through different forms of imagination, changing to the next form unlocked at every eighth of his health gone. This changes up his moveset, like so:

• Jimmy: He'll either do a normal attack or just glare at you.
• Revolting Blob: He'll either normal attack, hock up something gross to inflict Sick on the party, or enter a Counter Stance.
• Low-Level Goon: He'll either Bully someone, or smirk, telegraphing a Roughhouse.
• Happy Little Sunflower: He'll either slap the entire party, use Sunshine, or smile, telegraphing First Aid.
• Red-Billed Squawker: He'll alternate between yammering abrasively to damage and Startle the party, and doing a two-hit rampage.
• Grumble Bear: He'll either use a Fierce Growl that also inflicts Unguarded, go on a four-hit rampage that tires him out next turn, or use a Head-On Collision on the party, taking recoil damage in the process.
• Rotting Jack O' Lantern: He can use Ghost Fire, Combust, or chuckle to telegraph a torrent of powerful liquid flame. This phase is resistant to physical attacks but weak to light.
• 50's Style Vampire: He can either use Black Fountain, or attack the entire party with dark magic. He can also go Ethereal, gaining physical resistance and the ability to materialize around the party to Leech their health, which breaks the Ethereal effect. Either way, he's weak to light.

The nice thing about this fight is that you already know exactly what each of the many, many phases does for the fight. It doesn't get really hard until you hit Red-Billed Squawker, and even then it's not too bad. You can also absolutely shortcut past the later, trickier forms by using spike damage if that's your thing, but I wanted to show them all off, so I went with my usual damage over time deal.



Music: Skin Thieves

But even though we won the fight... it's still Jimmy beating himself up for no good reason.



It's just an eight years old boy who has no idea how to properly swear, being white-hot furious with himself for things completely outside of his control.



This might just be the saddest of the energy nexus points yet.



Music

Just keep doing your best, Jimmy.



That's all you can do.



Music: Morning Lullaby

Central Stamen's forested exterior being a fetch quest for different curative types of pollen with unpleasant side effects on Jimmy is very, very intentional. At this stage, his quality of life, even with the treatment, is basically nonexistent. In a lot of ways, the treatment is nearly as bad as the disease itself. Nobody, whether you're eight or eighty, deserves to suffer through this kind of experience, but that's all that awaits Jimmy when he finally wakes up from his dream. Which is what Ebeezil was talking about way back when we faced him so long ago: no matter how much we'd like to stay in the dream world, where Jimmy has the power to face any problem in his path... he can't.



Music

We have to face the Pulsating Mass eventually.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Right now, furniture. We've got a Daisy (+3 LUK, 1/6 of the Floral Set)...

A Paw Chair (+2 ATK, 1/5 of the Fuzzy Set)...

A Ladybug Wardrobe (+2 DEF, 1/5 of the Gross Set)...

And a Treadmill (+2 AGI, 1/5 of the Gym Set).



This completes more than a few sets. The Gym Set's bonus is... not great, honestly. We also have the Gross Set, which causes everyone's normal attacks to apply Sticky, which IS pretty good, the Fuzzy Set which gives everyone +15 AGI, and finally...



Nice. That's some good regen right there. Probably not the rare set I'd stick with, but it's good at what it does.



Oh, but we also have hidden sets! Top Tables requires every table in the game: the Boring Table, the Spider Table, the Classy Table, the Drafting Table, Rose Table, Slaughter Table, and the Happy Little End Table. Seven entire pieces of furniture is a lot, but most of them are at least rare, so you'll have some nice stats to contend with. I'm taking this one for sure.



It's People is also good too. For this, you need the Dolly, Astronaut, Beefcake, King, and Severed Hand.



Music

Let's also tackle this area. It should be nice and brief.



In we go. Coming along, fanboy?



We can be your friends, but that's up to you.

Music: Glass Cathedral

Right, let's see what all that light can do.



Neat place.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

For whatever reason, this area uses the same regular battle theme as Secret Meridian. Anyway, Gusto here can either normal attack, fire off a Startling bolt of electricity, or chant to telegraph a thunderstorm that Startles the party. He also does not die when he is killed, and will revive once per fight, gaining the Mind's Eye buff in the process.

Phoenix Mountain, eh? Anyway, here's some Smoke. It can attack with dark magic, use Sleeping gas, or shroud its party in thick Smoke, and it's also heavily resistant to physical attacks. Smoke is a pain and I hate it.



Music: Glass Cathedral

Ah, another one of these.



No luck, though. They go out almost immediately after igniting. We'll need to light both at once somehow.



Maybe we'll find something.



For now, a climbing we will go.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Scorchy is a dragon, and a dragon is he. He can either attack, space out, or use fire breath to damage someone. He can also start Flying, unless or until you take his Wings away. He packs a hell of a kick in the event he does attack, so be careful.



Music: Glass Cathedral

Lotta stairs over here.



Ah, there's the lava. This IS a volcano, y'know.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

The Fire Guardian is a little curious. Not for the moveset, mind you. In fights, he'll either attack normally, or heat up, taking some recoil to set up a persistent Counter effect for a few turns. This also modifies his moveset while the Counter is up, letting him either do a two-hit rampage, or erupt to deal magical damage to the party. The curious part here is the connection to Punch Tanaka. Remember, all the other Guardians hung out in areas linked to whoever shared their personality. Here on Phoenix Mountain, though, the closest link we get to Punch Tanaka is the goon fanboy in the front, and he barely matters. I've my own theory on it, but that will have to wait.

We've also got the Prayer Flower. They can ask the sun for help, which is functionally identical to Sunshine, or pray to telegraph a healing light that both heals enemies and gives them a strong Rejuvenate effect. If any of its allies are defeated, it will revive them instead. Be mindful if you're using Spectral Body, as this is the one conventional enemy with access to light attacks in the entire game.



Music: Glass Cathedral

The Supernova (+100 ATK/+40 MAT) is a really nice weapon for Hitomi, if you're more interested in speccing her as a physical fighter than a magical one. Doesn't do us a lot of good NOW, but hey, it's there for when she rejoins! Most of the best straightforward weapons in the game tend to award around 80 points in the character's preferred attacking stat, for calibration's sake. And that's not counting the weird outliers for gimmick builds like the Perpetual Motion Engine or the Encyclopedia Set.



The heat doesn't seem to bother Jimmy.



All this plant life seems burnt out. Not surprising, really.



The view is nice.



Maybe if we can heal the plants here, we can head up.



Thankfully, Phoenix Mountain isn't very long.



Oooh, now this is fun. The Burning Tuxedo (+55 DEF/MDF, +20 all other stats) is a nice bit of gear if you can handle the HP drain. There's two ways to do that: give it to a character with enough self-sustain (like Lars or Nourishing Roots Jimmy) that the drain isn't an issue, or run like the wind and assume you'll kill whatever you're facing first.



Gotta be getting close to the top, right?



Okay yeah.



Just across here, hopefully.



Oh yeah this is screaming finality.



Right, what's at the end?



That a Phoenix egg?



Music

Oh. Well, that's a Phoenix, anyway.

Bring the heat, pal.



Music: Righteous Scrabble

The Phoenix is an optional boss fight with a hell of a kick to it. The moveset isn't too bad at first: normal attack, breathe fire, Combust, and they can heat up like the Fire Guardian, gaining the Counter state for a few turns. While heated, they can release a torrent of liquid flame at the party, or do a two-hit rampage. That's all fine, but the real danger comes from when you defeat the Phoenix... and it does the thing Phoenixes do and instantly revives to full health. From then on, it uses a more powerful moveset, with the two-hit rampage and liquid flame moves being available without heating up, the fire breath upgraded to a fireball, and heating up giving access to a four-hit rampage or a white-hot sea of flames that deals crazy huge damage.

More than any other fight, the Phoenix is one where you NEED to save your biggest, baddest moves for the second phase, and it's very clearly indicated as to when that happens. Also: don't forget that Startle also neutralizes any Counter effect, so you can break the Phoenix out of its heated-up state with a single HONK. I'm also super proud of my performance in this fight, how I was able to turn a near team wipe into coming back strong. If you only ever watch one fight in this LP, make it this one.



Music

With one final screech, the Phoenix bursts into white-hot flames!



It dissolves away into ash...



So that new life can bloom.



That's the Phoenix for you.



Music: The Noble Sea

And that's definitely something Jimmy can empathize with.



With the power of imagination...



Even death itself can be overcome!



Music: Glass Cathedral

The Phoenix is the last form Jimmy can obtain. Like Punch Tanaka, the Phoenix form grants lots of power but takes longer to level up. Each level awards +1 MAT, MDF, and AGI. Fittingly, the Phoenix is primarily about healing, replacing the Happy Little Sunflower in many ways, although it's definitely no slouch as a magical attacker.

Immolate (60 MP, unlock at level 5) is Jimmy's big answer to any fight with lots of enemies. The warm-up on Immolate also doubles as a cooldown, but it's mostly annoying because it means Jimmy can't just wipe random encounters with this move whenever he wants. We're DEFINITELY going to want this move unlocked before we fight the Legato Knights.

Sacrifice (unlock at level 10) is the ultimate reset button. Sure, it costs Jimmy's life to do it, but A: reviving a lone Jimmy is easy if everyone is at full functionality, and B: this heals HP and MP. This is amazingly powerful if your team composition relies on having any kind of balls-to-the-wall attacker like Buck or Andrew, who might bleed out their two meters in full before they're finished smashing things.

Sacred Fire (30 MP, unlock at level 15) is Pep Talk, but moreso. As soon as you unlock this, you should never even bother touching Pep Talk again.

Living Flames (passive, unlock at level 25) does what it says on the box... mostly. Passive counters are always weaker than an active Counter Stance, remember, so if you really want to abuse tanking Jimmy, you should use Punch Tanaka's moveset more. Living Flames is still nice if you just want some extra damage without devoting to a full tank lifestyle, but it's hard to say this should get a passive slot of its own.

Calming Breeze (30 MP, unlock at level 40) is to Comforting Smile as Sacred Fire is to Pep Talk.

Flames of Rebirth (passive, unlock at level 50) is pretty nice as a standalone, but it really comes into its own when paired with Sacrifice. This turns Sacrifice into a once per fight "screw you, we're at full from near-team-wipe". Of course, it's nice as a vague panic button for if Jimmy bites it, but if his defenses are good, this is amazingly powerful at ensuring you never ever ever lose.



With the Phoenix defeated, the volcano is flowing with life once more.



Let's not forget the last two hidden bits though.



Field-action wise, the Phoenix is identical to the Rotting Jack O' Lantern except that its flare effect hits on all sides of it.



The Warrior's Spirit (+30 ATK/MAT) is the only thing you need to do this for. It's a nice bit of kit for sure, especially for Hitomi, Jimmy, or Helga.



And that's Confidence unlocked. Now Jimmy has more stats in every stat than most characters do in their good ones. True Endgame Jimmy is here.

Next Time: Now, this is of course all your typical ancient civilization sky worship and karmic energy mumbo jumbo.

Hey, I was just thinking about this! Glad to see you back.

hmm, now I gotta get back to Ogre Battle...

Do passive counter sources stack, and do they pair with active counter skills? Because you could probably make a pretty mean spike-tank Jimmy if they do.

I have no idea. But I do know how we could test it, though that will have to wait a few updates.



Music: Air Spirals

Okay, NOW we check out the Temple of the Inward-Looking Eye.



It's all purpley.



Most of the monks are just pondering your usual questions of philosophy and all that.



Most of them.



Try saying that while looking in the mirror.



We'll get to the mirror in due time.



I'm sure all of that is interesting to you guys, but I'm hankering to explore the mirror world.



Kickin' rad. Let's get in there.



Music

Nobody's home in the other temple.



Entrance is sealed too.



But we can go further in!



Pools of murky water greet us on either side as we progress.



That's a big one. Wonder what that dark spot is.



Let's go find out.



Hold your breath as long as you can!



Music: Altar of Severed Hands

The real Temple of the Inward-Looking Eye is down here.



It looks sort of like the other structures of Secret Meridian, but decidedly different.



Deep sea creatures form the bulk of the enemies here. The Shark can attack, or work itself into a frenzy, which can telegraph either a really hard chomp, a biting flurry that hits three times, or just a party-wide attack.

We also get some dang ol' cultist Followers. They can either do a normal attack, or chant in a strange language, which telegraphs them summoning one of the other enemies that can be encountered here. In addition to Sharks, there's also Murk, Slithery Dee, or one last enemy we've yet to see.



We'll have to track down the leader of this cult and figure out what nonsense they're up to. Well... we don't HAVE to. But we're here now, so we will.



What's the point of these giant torches if you're going to keep your temple flooded all the time?



Piranha Swarms can attack thrice in one turn, either going for their standard attack, or a diseased bite that inflicts Immunodeficiency. They're speedy, but not especially strong.



Man, your evil fish god is ugly and weird.



These must be some of their sacrifices. Grisly stuff. We can't go up the side paths, too Innsmouthy.



The decor in the inner parts of the temple looks a lot darker than the entrance hall.



What else we got?

Looks like a procession of cultists. We can't really follow them from here though, no way to that bridge.



Going back under, we can see one of the paths has been unclogged.



Maybe there's clues over here?



While I look for them, I remembered that I wanted to build Andrew for Molecular Beam usage. This is the build I eventually came up with. It's not even at maximum power, there's a trinket Chuff sells that can take this even further, but for now it'll do.



Dead end... but what's that happening over there?



A secret passage! Fascinating.



Uh-oh, the sacrifices are gone. Wonder where they went...



As neat as the cult mystery suspense is... these halls are still just as samey as every other Secret Meridian area. Get me to the boss, will ya?



Stonemasonry is not enough!



Got Immolate, though. I don't know if I want to max out Phoenix the same way I did Punch Tanaka, to be honest. The higher-level stuff there just doesn't appeal to me very much. I might get it up to 25 and then go dip in Red-Billed Squawker, Rotting Jack O' Lantern, Happy Little Sunflower, and 50's Style Vampire for the rest of my levels, just really get all those stats rounded out.



The temple halls have given way to cellars.



Some of them stranger than others.



Hey, here's the bridge!



Oh. Can I help you?



Yeah we gathered as much.



Good luck, we have Imagination.



The presumably-sacrificed sink back into the darkness, letting us continue.



Your walls are real melty down here. That's the kind of problem you want to call a specialist for.



Let's see where this goes.



Bog cave. Cave bog.



What



Awful nice of you to tell us now, at least. And yes, this reason is here for good warning. You'll see why in a bit.



Must be near to where the cultists were going, at least.



Just fly on over this skeleton, maybe pass another bog or two.



Oh yeah, that's some primo bog.

Music

Knock knock open up the door it's Jimmy.



Music: Skin Thieves

Yep, that there's a doomsday cult. They really don't make 'em like they used to, I tell ya.



They got a real Doomsday Clock, at least.



Music: A Cocoon Throbbing in a Dead Man's Mouth

The Black Prophet at least puts their money where their mouth is. Each round, the Doomsday Clock will tick ahead by one. When it hits 13, you don't just get defeated. You get an honest Game Over, complete with booting you to the title screen, unlike every other fight in the game. That information terminal was back there for the sake of the people who had played all the way up to this point without saving. Pour one out for those unfortunate souls. Anyway, the Black Prophet is the actual fight you have to contend with. He can use a bolt of electricity to Startle, dark magic to attack everyone, or diseased claws to hit everyone and inflict Sick. He can also chant in a strange language to either telegraph a cast of Barrier or Black Fountain, or he can chuckle himself to telegraph setting the Doomsday Clock further by one.

While you can steal a bit of Time from the Doomsday Clock to push it back, you are facing a significant time restriction on this fight no matter how you slice it, so your goal is to pile on as much damage to the Black Prophet as quickly as you can. He doesn't have as much health as some other bosses would at this stage of the game, so blasting him down quickly isn't impossible, but you need to commit to that right out of the gate. This is a big part of why I geared Andrew up for Molecular Beam: I wanted him to hit the ground running as hard as possible. I don't need to tell you how to hit hard in this game, by this point you've already got that handled, so as long as you can go right for that without noodling around with pesky minor things like "sustain" you'll be all right. I don't know for sure, but I THINK Startling the Doomsday Clock will stall it for a turn, so if you're having trouble, that might be worth exploring.



Probably the hardest of the nightmare zones to tackle, but should be manageable.



Music: The Noble Sea

And yeah, obviously this is a nightmare zone. The Lovecraftian inspiration is extremely evident here, although I think the fear here is more of existential horror, of realizing that everyone and everything will eventually die, wither away into nothing, and be forgotten by everyone and everything that knew them. That's a hard fear to grapple with, regardless of your age, but it is one that's possible to confront and accept. You've only got the one shot at life, so make it count and make it a good one. The Temple of the Inward-Seeking Eye's position in the game also matters, as this is, again, the hardest nightmare zone yet for Jimmy. When you only have an expected eight years to your life, every day being potentially your last is an even scarier concept.



The Bloody Knuckles (+30 ATK) are a weapon that really ties the whole Buck-exclusive set together. Between Reckless Charge and the Hyde Toxin, we have lots of good ways to capitalize on the potential of the Bloody Knuckles, provided we can keep him alive long enough to really put that pain on. And, of course, provided we stop him from being a monster.



More furniture.



If you want your tanks (i.e. probably Lars, theoretically Jimmy, extremely theoretically Buck) to sacrifice hitting power for raw survivability, you really can't do better than the Hyper Barrier as a weapon. I'd rather not give up that hitting power though.



Soul Sparks (50 MP) is a once-per-fight way of saying "no I didn't screw up you're just imagining it". I still like Sacrifice more since it also restores MP, and also it doesn't consume a manual slot like Soul Sparks does. Besides, Adrenaline Shot is far more my speed anyway.



Music: Parabolic Smile

The Fish Tank (+3 MDF) is the last piece of the Geometric Set...



And the Geometric Set is absolutely one I consider worth going for. 20% MP discounts are no small thing! I almost decided to go for this instead of Top Tables/It's People... but then I didn't. Shrug.



Oh, and here's our new Great White Chair (+2 ATK, 1/5 of the Scaly Set). That actually completes the Scaly Set too, which gives a 15% chance to dodge all attacks. Not too bad, really.



Music: Starless Zone

And yeah, that's the last of the anomalies that this Squirm registers! We did it!



This gives us an Eradicator Ray (+70 ATK, +40 MAT), which is a REALLY nice weapon. We can actually get these from Chuff as well, but we have other, more fun things to spend Dungeon Points on.



Right, let's get fancy.



Music

Let's take on the entire team of Legato Knights!



Music: Righteous Scrabble

We already know all of the movesets available here... mostly. Windsor's moveset is unchanged, but he retains his ability to change everyone between offensive and defensive stances, which in the case of the Legato Knights unlocks extra moves. I'll put the full moveset list here, just in case you don't remember that far back (and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't).

• Windsor: He can attack normally, twirl his mustache, or order everyone else to make a regular attack. His stance change order now happens every eight turns instead of every six. If everyone else is defeated, he'll switch to making normal attacks on every round from then on.
• Roland: He can either attack normally, do a two-hit rampage that tires him out next turn, or tense his muscles to power attack next turn. In his offensive stance, he can give a battle cry that Motivates his team. In his defensive stance, he can instead help everyone prepare themselves, getting them all Guarded.
• LeGrange: He can attack as many as three times at once, strike with breathtaking speed before your party acts, or do a feinting hilt bash to Startle. In his offensive stance, he can crouch low to telegraph striking with expert precision to instakill someone. In his defensive stance, he can Insult the entire party or use a Counter Stance.
• Claire: She can attack normally, use a poisoned halberd to inflict Sick, a shieldbash to Startle, a piercing attack that inflicts Unguarded, or a mocking attack that inflicts Unmotivated. In her offensive stance, she can also use a halberd coated with Acid. In her defensive stance, she can cast a Barrier on herself.
• Coltrane: He can tense his muscles to telegraph a power slash (or maybe a party-wide slashing move, unsure), or tense up twice in a row to slash with extreme prejudice for heavy damage (or become a tornado of flashing blades to attack the party, again unsure if that's the case). In his offensive stance, he can also perform a normal attack. In his defensive stance, he can activate a Counter Stance. At half health, he'll activate his Mind's Eye for a massive ATK, MAT, and AGI boost.

That's a hell of a repertoire to handle all at once, huh? Thankfully, each individual Legato Knight has far less health than most bosses at around this point in the game would. The Black Prophet, for example, has 25k HP. The health totals for these guys hover at around 8k, slightly more for the slower Roland, slightly less for the speedier LeGrange and Claire. If you can survive long enough, the best strategy by far is big huge area attacks. Immolate, in particular, will make mincemeat of these guys, even in a defensive stance (although Claire could potentially survive with her Barrier). The trick is in surviving long enough. The good news is that nobody here uses magic, the only area attacks present here are from LeGrange and Coltrane, and the former only does those in a defensive stance anyway. As long as you can have someone tank up long enough to let the rest of your team unleash those big moves, you're golden. Just watch out for LeGrange, because that instakill can seriously throw off your game and leave the rest of your team wide open to heavy hits from Roland and Coltrane.



Music

Hell yeah! I'm proud of you, Jimmy!



Music: March of the Corgis

Of course we get a reward for this, and of course it's worth it.



The Knight's Emblem (+20 to all stats) is incredibly good, particularly for characters who want to burn through lots of MP fast like Andrew and Hitomi. The fight to earn it can be a handful, but it's definitely worth the trouble.



And that's the last thing to do in Legato. Again, I really like the Legato Knights as a whole, and their boss fight in particular is really fun.



Something about the fact that all of these knights represent serious forces in the world, both inside Legato and out, but also they're silly musical instrument people... it just tickles me!



With that, we've done everything we can realistically do, outside of more Dark Dungeon, in Jimmy's dream.



We've seen a lot of people and places, and confronted a lot of horrible fears.



Only one place left to go.



Music: Let's Color Today

We've got all the energy nexus points.

Music

We should be able to get in now.



Yep, door's opening.



As soon as it does, Cubbins barks happily.



And... in he goes.



We'll keep an eye on him, don't worry.



Brace yourselves.

Next Time: ...

You can, it's fun.

I wonder if Rubik is even still alive after the Pulsating Mass consumed the place. And if he is, I hope he hasn't met a fate worse than death in there. Given the dark places the game has gone, I just have this sneaking suspicion that turning him into a fountain might've been the more merciful thing to do.

I really hope that I'm wrong. I'd like Rubik and Cubbins to have a happy reunion, just like how we got Henry to cheer up Mr. Marvelous after a good portion of the game took a dump on the poor dapper frog.

What's the Phoenix's field action?

It can light TWO things on fire to the sides of it.

I'm wondering what sort of disgusting mess we'll find Punch in. It'd be an odd thing to put Punch's face on enemies in the Phoenix volcano if he were really actually dead.

I don't see Punch rejoining the party before the last boss fight or anything, the family party makes the most sense. Wondering who's going to drop so Buck can rejoin, though.

Finding a new equip for Hitomi's a puzzler.

Smart money says you get to rearrange your party at some point (possibly postgame).