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

The dragon heads off again, and we're free to continue our adventure with both Helga and Lars on deck!



We procure ourselves a Vaccine right off the bat, rounding our collection of status immunity trinkets out. There's nothing that grants resistance to Afraid, primarily because most things that inflict it just do so to Jimmy.



Another one of these weird things. We're gonna extend this update a little more, just enough to see what these are for and get through the last of King's March.



With the princesses rescued, we're free to travel to any part of King's March, so we'll go access the Clubhouse now. High time we did, anyway.



SHAAAAAPES



Hey, another temple.



So the puzzle in Mulgren Temple is the trickiest one to figure out.



All those shape statues we've seen with weird markings on them? Yeah! Those are clues for this puzzle! Interacting with the statues in here causes them to chime, but they don't do anything else that we can tell for now.



Eastern King's March is super short, as are all of the branches of King's March, which is why I'm cool with continuing the update through here.



Let's just mosey on over here...



Another clue, eh? All right then.



Music: Battle in the Fire Tornado

Remember when I said there was an enemy I missed in northern King's March? It's the Ghoul. It's a bog-standard undead: it bites, it can scratch with diseased claws and inflict Sick, it's weak to light-based moves.

They're more commonly found as the retinue of Goblin Warlocks. They can do a basic attack or Ghost Fire normally, but they can also summon the dead, turning all fallen enemies into Ghouls and reviving them at full health.



Music: Let's Color Today

Finally, we can access the Clubhouse. We can also mess with Dark Dungeon, that's the cave off to the right, but that will wait for another day.



Music: Oh-So-Cool Castle

Even the Clubhouse feels older.



We only have two of the four Medieval Set pieces: the Chess Piece (+1 LUK)...

And the Hero Statue (+1 MAT). Cool and all, but I kinda want those last two pieces...



Music: Beep Beep Boop Village

RIGHT NEVER MIND



Music: Oh-So-Cool Castle

We did get a ton of stolen furniture from Everchip monsters, so let's show that all here. First is the Vanity Mirror (+2 LUK, 1/5 of the Scaly Set)...

And a Pile of Goo (+2 MDF, 1/5 of the Gross Set).



Here we have a Pumpkin TV (+2 MAT, 1/5 of the Creepy Set)...

And an Apple Clock (+2 MAT, 1/5 of the Fruity Set).



We also have some Pineapple Drawers (+2 ATK)...

And the Watermelon Fridge (+2 DEF), both from the Fruity Set.



Finally, our first two pieces of the Pixel Set. There's a Tree (+3 MDF)...

And a Throne (+3 DEF).



Music: Quest for the Journey

Enough of that, we've got another island to explore!



HI GOOD DOAG



Rubik's not kidding.



In addition to the usual consumables, they also sell Nutrition Cubes, Super Choco-Cola, and Fire Alarms:

All of these are really good items for this stage of the game. I'll get my fill of Super Choco-Cola in particular.



Rubik will also helpfully point you in the direction of the Clubhouse, and it's a good idea to heed their advice before going further down King's March.

Now Jimmy can Rampage!



More clues.



I'm going this waaaay!



The last temple. This must be James Temple.



Unlike the others, this place is in ruin, and no sages tend it or tell us about it. We can at least infer that the King ordered this one built first.



If there was a puzzle within, it's long since been lost to time. All we have to do is move some rocks out of the way.



Our prize is a Buckler (+10 ATK, +30 DEF/MDF). It's good equipment for Lars if you're okay with sacrificing offense for longevity.



Right, let's blow this POP-STAND.



Music

But we don't get to leave yet, do we.



Not if Chancellor Pulsating Mass has anything to say about it.



Music: Skin Thieves (8-bit)

They're not kidding.



Music: A Cocoon Throbbing in a Dead Man's Mouth (8-bit)

The final boss of Everchip is Chancellor Pulsating Mass, and as his boast indicates, his moveset changes depending on what form Jimmy takes, usually to counterplay it somewhat. Each form has two regular moves and one telegraphed move. Here's a list, as well as my personal rating for how manageable each form is. Don't assume that any given form makes the fight easy, I still lost this one once, but knowing what you're up against is pretty handy here, there's some real sucker punches buried in that list. I sure as hell didn't have the list memorized when I played.

• Jimmy: Every move from the list below is available. Rating: Hell No
• Revolting Blob: He can use a cloud of spores that inflicts Sick on everyone, or drill through your defenses for a chunky DEF-piercing attack. When he chants a strange language, he's telegraphing a three-hit fire spell. Rating: Ideal
• Low-Level Goon: He'll either cast Fire 2 to hit one person, or Ice 2 to hit everyone. When he grinds his teeth, that's setting up a tremor that hits the party for physical damage. Rating: Tolerable
• Happy Little Sunflower: He'll either attack the party with diseased claws that inflict Immunodeficiency, rampage to hit three times, or chant a strange language, telegraphing the Moxiesplit spell to halve party MP. Rating: If You Must
• Red-Billed Squawker: He'll cast Ice 2 to hit everyone or rampage to attack three times. He'll also throb and twitch, telegraphing a strong attack that outspeeds everything else. Rating: Ideal
• Grumble Bear: He'll cast Fire 2 to hit one person, ready a Counter Stance, or chant a strange language to rev up Fire 3, hitting everyone. Rating: If You Must
• Rotting Jack O' Lantern: He'll either rampage for three hits, cast a Barrier to reflect magic, or grind his teeth to set up a tremor that hits everyone. Rating: If You Must
• 50's Style Vampire: He'll either do a three-hit rampage, materialize around the party to drain everyone's health, or throb and twitch, telegraphing attacking everyone with cursed claws to inflict Withering. Rating: Tolerable

Because Chancellor Pulsating Mass will change his moveset with your form, counterplay by switching forms becomes a lot harder, and it's often advisable to just learn what he can do for the form you prefer, and play to counter it. This works for basically every form except normal Jimmy (even Happy Little Sunflower can be viable since we just got a Vaccine and we have Helga). It's also worth noting that at around 50% health, Chancellor Pulsating Mass will Mind Control one of your party members every four turns. This can be broken via Startle, as before, so either use the Red-Billed Squawker well or pick up some Roman Candles from the Funhouse in Ashby's. It's also worth noting that your best damage output, at this stage of the game, is for Lars to use a Counter Stance on the same turn Chancellor Pulsating Mass goes for a rampage. I find that Red-Billed Squawker has the most generally tolerable moveset that includes the rampage, so that plus Annoying Squawk makes it my go-to for this fight, although I'll also use Revolting Blob for the attrition fairly often.



Music: Skin Thieves (8-bit)

I gotta say, this is some pretty intimidating talk coming from someone who's lost this fight. Especially since, if the Mutt was just another facet of the Pulsating Mass, we already know there's weight to this threat.



Music

For the moment, at least, we've defeated the Pulsating Mass.



Music: Quest for the Journey

Before we leave King's March, someone else calls to us.



At least that's resolved fairly nicely. And we will definitely be returning to Everchip in the future.



Thanks for the apology. Maybe get Princess Stinkweed a better bed.



Music: Let's Color Today

Okay, enough of this for now. We can meet the dragon here to progress to the next continent, and by golly, that's what we'll do!

Next Time: Fresh air. Perfect view. A girl could build a nest in a place like this.

Timothy Mouse is a really good boy. And way to save the day with your dragon friend, Uncle Lars!

Mutt, and presumably Queen Buddy Bee. There's no getting rid of the Pulsating Mass.

"Immunodeficiency" is an awfully big word for an eight-year-old to know, isn't it? I wonder where Jimmy picked it up.

Music: Beep Beep Boop Village

Once you defeat Chancellor Pulsating Mass, Kingland becomes safe to return to. There's also a few services that have opened up here, but right now I'm only going to deal with one of them...



Namely, Aurora's shop, which sells tracks exclusive to the Everchip region.



None of these are found in toyboxes like the rest, so that's a little annoying. I don't feel like shelling out for them either. Maybe later when we have virtually infinite money as tends to happen.



We run into Mr. Marvelous on the way to the bank so we can afford the last bits of the Medieval Set.



I don't think Mr. Vulture would be cool with that turn of phrase, to be honest.



Music: Oh-So-Cool Castle

Last two pieces of the Medieval Set: here's the Sword in the Stone (+1 ATK)...

And the Suit of Armor (+1 DEF). The completed Medieval Set awards another +5 ATK.



Music: Let's Color Today

We'll very briefly pop by Dark Dungeon.



Music: Quest for the Journey

So, the basics. Dark Dungeon as a concept is basically "what if Mario Party had a Pit of 100 Trials". Each of its hundred floors has a bunch of spaces that you move around on by rolling a six-sided die. What's more, Jimmy will be locked into a random form every time he moves to a new floor, including his default Jimmy form. You can find items to even the odds, and traps that can put a real stick in your spokes, and also Dungeon Points you can cash in with Chuff here, and some very unique treasures.



And I mean unique in a good way. There's items you can use to make Dark Dungeon easier, but there's also powerful equipment that opens up more unconventional roles for your party. I'll do some dives into Dark Dungeon every so often, as it's a very nice way to shore up levels if you're struggling (which is starting to be a thing for me), but I'm not covering the gear you can get here for one simple reason: Chuff's stock and the rare items you can find within Dark Dungeon itself have heavy spoilers for party members. If I do get anything from here that our current party can make use of, I'll mention it for that update, and if I've picked up gear that can be used by a new recruit, I'll throw that in their equipment breakdown.



The information terminal over here not only contains a list of the unique treasure available (every 5 floors has one exclusive to that area) but pointers about the mechanics of Dark Dungeon. Note that escaping Dark Dungeon is not on your own terms! In order to exit, you either have to find and use a Ladder item, or get wiped in a fight. And, of course, getting wiped in a fight means you take no Dungeon Points back, and if you aren't doing that what even is the point? Fortunately, you don't have to do all 100 floors in one go: whenever you use a ladder, you open a shortcut every tenth floor you've visited. The encounters scale up, too, with the lower floors having fights on par with postgame.



The upshot of all of this is that while I will become very familiar with this skull-laden archway, the actual details will be left out until I get something worth detailing.



There's still two treasures somewhere in King's March, but I've combed over the entire area and am virtually certain they're stuck in Mulgren Temple.



Again, these weird monuments are the clues we need. I'm leaving the mystery alive for now because I keep forgetting the clues and don't want to pull up the answers I want to give you all opportunities to solve it!



Music: Let's Color Today

All right, that's enough for now. We'll be back pretty soon, but I need to get some stuff done on the next island first.



Music: Quest for the Journey

Right, let's move.



And we're off!



Music: Air Spirals

We're so high up now that the clouds are below us!



Thanks, dragon. Take it easy.



We've landed in Sacred Lantern, a monastic village perched atop the island of Secret Meridian. And that's another Iron Flamingo pod, so if we're fortunate, Andrew should be just around the corner.



All the monks of Sacred Lantern are named and shaped after numbers.



As usual, we're not the first ones here.



As usual, Ms. Robin has new stock for a new area.



Thermal Bomb (25 MP) is a VERY nice manual, easily above and beyond the kind of wide-scale damage Jimmy can output. This is your way of just noping through any encounter you want to face. If only we had a party member that was adept with MAT! HMMMMM!



The rest of The Petty Thugs are here, but they're focused on dealing with their own problems rather than us. Good place for it, too.



Okay fiiine we can stop dragging it out YES THERE'S ANDREW.



Music: An Open Window

To nobody's surprise, Helga is the first to react.

Hi nerd dad.



Welcome back to the team.



I feel like it's no coincidence that we found each of our party members in the places we did.



Music: Skin Thieves

And, naturally, Andrew joining us means its time for some spicy knowledge bombs. We're going to start learning more about the nature of the Pulsating Mass, and how to defeat it, in the Temple of Sight.



Music: Air Spirals

We're already learning more about Andrew as well. As passionate as he is about his relationship with Helga, he feels maybe a bit too formal than a father should be re: Jimmy, and his attitude toward Lars, well... Those two words between the two speak volumes.



In any event, we have a full party once again! This is the main reason why I held off on backtracking shenanigans until now: with Andrew on our team, we now have a replacement damage dealer ever since Buck got hauled off to parts unknown. Andrew boasts ridiculously good MAT and not-inconsiderable MP, MDF, and LUK, in traditional mage fashion. And, as you might expect, his other stats are very much on the weak side. Nerd dad is not a brawler and cannot take hits, and he's not especially fast either, but he packs a hell of a kick and won't have to be shy about holding back in fights.



This is especially true when you factor in his Erudite personality. All that reading tends to leave one spry enough in wit that you're never at a loss for ideas. 3% MP regen isn't much, but it goes a long way considering Andrew's generous MP pool. He begins play with a Worn Scroll (+8 ATK/+30 MAT):

And a Blazer (+10 DEF/+25 MDF):



Andrew's field of expertise may be paleontology, but he's got enough of a command of several branches of Science to give him a fearsome repertoire of moves in fights. Several lategame strategies for spike damage have Andrew as a core component.

Cryodynamics (10 MP) is Andrew's version of Ghost Fire. If you don't have anything better for him to do, this is his basic attack maneuver. No, ice and fire are not separate damage types in Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, so both of these can kill, say, an angry sun with equal potency.

Toxicosis (15 MP) is magical damage Toxic Sludge. Because Acid is a different status effect, you can stack both of them if you really want to, and by this point in the game, the MP cost is not so prohibitive that you can't just do this whenever you want in a tough fight. That said, Toxicosis is not as easy a play as it might sound like.

Focus (10 MP) is Mana Burn all over again. Like with the Rotting Jack O' Lantern, this move CAN be used to give Andrew some physical kick, and the Erudite MP regen helps take the edge off of this move, but Andrew has no physical attacks outside of manuals and has very low ATK, so don't expect him to go full flex on people with Focus active. It is, naturally, a great partner to his magical moves, including Thermal Bomb which BUY THAT FOR HIM IMMEDIATELY.

Analysis (40 MP) is how Andrew sets up the aforementioned spike damage moves. It's extremely powerful, but you have to be VERY aware of turn order before you just throw it down. Andrew's a bit on the slow side, so you might want to have a faster character (i.e. Jimmy, right now) queue up something big and rude for the turn after Andrew throws Analysis. And be careful, because ANY hit will remove the Weakpoint, including the damage-over-time from Toxicosis!



Anyway, there's two temples in Sacred Lantern. In order to access the Temple of the Inward-Looking Eye, we have to find a few monks that have been wandering the world. It will be a decent chunk of time before that happens.



Well, whatever identity you decide to be in the end, I believe you'll find a way through.



Hm. I expect Andrew will want to take us there after the Temple of Sight.



Which, by the way, we'll be tackling this update, of course.



Come to think of it: how DOES Punch Tanaka get around, anyway? We've had to come up with (or be forced into) one fantastical method of travel after another.



Anyway, hope you guys like MAD LORE



Music: Divine Integration

Welcome to the Temple of Sight.



As Five said, this area has encounters, and should be considered a full dungeon.



We're getting a whopping eight toybox reading here, but I remain unsure if that's due solely to the Temple of Sight. Legato still has eight as well, remember.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Oh, we're starting off with the neat ones this time. Balanced Equations are actually two enemies, always encountered together, with two separate movesets. If one half of the equation is alive and the other has fallen at the round's end, the survivor will revive the other to match their health at the end of the turn. I'll start with the one on the right: it can either normally attack, or slam into the party. It has a uniquely powerful telegraph move: when it calculates with its peers, it not only sets up a three-hit rampage for itself, but preps EVERY enemy in the field to use their moves that would normally require a telegraph.

The one on the left can either attack or talk about something really boring, causing one party member to go to Sleep. If another enemy (like the other half of the equation) calculates with it, it'll next turn talk about something REALLY boring, putting the entire party to Sleep.



Music: Divine Integration

This dungeon's pretty linear, but there are some optional treasures guarded by some tricky puzzles.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Luna is a dedicated buffer: she'll apply Motivated to the party as her first action, and then either apply Hyper or Guarded on her next turn. She'll cycle between all three, and only do a normal attack if she's the last enemy in the fight.

Sol is a dedicated physical attacker, either slamming into the entire party or doing a two-hit rampage. Stealing his Heat will lock him into only doing normal attacks, though.



Music: Divine Integration

Before long, we arrive at a mural.



So the Pulsating Mass is old as HELL, and wasn't very large or powerful at first, but is now, and by all accounts will only get stronger.



Yeah those are the questions I'd like to know. The Pulsating Mass has been a real jerk to Jimmy.



HALLWAYS ARE BORING LORE IS AWESOME



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Landfish are extremely unexciting: normal attack, or a tail-flop that hits the party.

Music: Divine Integration

Trying to balance my forms out so that they all get levels equally. Still don't have a real strat for how to build Jimmy, so I figure a generalist build is a fine option that still leaves me open if I get a good suggestion or idea.



Oh, here's a side room with a puzzle.



Somehow I am unable to tell between these two entrances which one progresses the plot and which doesn't.



That all sounds pretty horrific, but that doesn't explain why it's going for Jimmy specifically. What does he have that the Pulsating Mass wants?



All of this is useful information, but nothing here explains why it's gunning for Jimmy.



Anyway, side puzzle. The Temple of Sight has a bunch of terminals like these. The ones with red buttons can be interacted with, the others can't.



They sometimes display numbers, other times shapes.



In all cases, once you believe you've set the variable terminals to the right state, you can check the door lock. Green means go. As you can see, the shapes are a stand-in for the numbers, with the triangle being 3 and the pentagon being 5.



We're rewarded with Vestments (+10 MAT, +15 DEF, +20 MDF). They're good for Andrew, but if you'd rather use manuals to get a second caster out of Helga they're nice for her too.



Back to it.



Oh, good, that means the last mural is close. I've been kind of hurting on MP for this area, so as long as we can tough it out for the last bit, we'll be done here and not need to return.



Something tells me it's north to the last mural, so let's not do that.



New puzzle element. Those red arrows on the floor indicate a sum: everything fed into the indicated terminal is added together.



So we've got to make the sum work out, then.



Easy.



We get a bigger reward chamber this time, so let's explore all the possible paths here and see what's up.



To the right, we find a new area with signs reading "Clarity". And the terminals can now reference letters.



The trick here is simple: the letters reference their place in the word. So C == 1, L == 2, A == 3, and so forth.



Nice, got some furniture AND sparkles to sustain us a little more.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Finally find one of the last enemies in the Temple of Sight. Chatterbox either goes for a single bite, or winds up to telegraph a flurry of four bite attacks next round. Again, remember that if it's in an encounter with something that can calculate with it, it can go swinging for the fences without warning!



Music: Divine Integration

The left branch is a giant mess. Not only do you need the "Clarity" clue, but you also get these blue arrows. As you can infer from the example here, it's a subtraction operation.



This side is simple enough.



Likewise, the central sum can't be anything but this.



For whatever reason, though, the bottom isn't quite right.



Like, the subtraction is sound, but it doesn't accept that specific configuration.

This is the only one that works.



There's the lightbulb, at least.



Really hope this last mural has some concrete answers.



I guess that's our gameplan, then: track down The Secret Knowledge and see if we can't clobber the Pulsating Mass with it a bit.



It's as sound a plan as any so far. We can't keep going up against the Pulsating Mass totally blind.



It's no surprise that Andrew isn't a very emotional or empathetic person. What IS a little curious is that despite his intellect, he's almost as critical of himself as Lars is, in more than a few ways. That's probably a big factor for why they don't get along, on reflection.



Anyway, that's the Temple of Sight done.



Music: Air Spirals

When we get back outside, Punch Tanaka is gone, and only a scroll is left where he was.



Guess we'll be following him as he goes down The Path of Enlightenment, too.



I'm sure he'll find his way.



Music: Let's Color Today

As for us, we gotta get going! We've got a lot of stuff on the backburner to tackle now that we have four party members!



But we've gotta make our way through here first.

Next Time: I'm not very good with people. I think it's because I don't see them that often. I'm just so busy, you see. They also tend to scream at the sight of me.

Motorcycle jumps.

Music: Parabolic Smile

Aw yeah. Welcome to the Path of Enlightenment, featuring my Clubhouse song of choice. Parabolic Smile is amazing.



Throughout the rest of Secret Meridian, we'll be encountering Punch Tanaka's journal entries. They are always a treat.



He's not really cut out to be a monk, huh.



But hey, he's got these haiku on lockdown.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

We've gotten to the part of the game where even the random encounters can start getting tricky. Onefish sport a complete immunity to physical attacks, and a passive Counter for even trying. Their offense is pretty straightforward though: regular attack, or sharpen its edges to do a three-hit rampage next turn.



Music: Parabolic Smile

But this also means the XP payouts are getting pretty chunky.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Burton, as his appearance indicates, is capable of the same Science attacks that Andrew has, and can attack with Cryodynamics for magical damage or Toxicosis for damage over time. He can also calculate with his peers like the Balanced Equation, which lets him multitarget Cryodynamics next turn.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Got ourselves an Angular Suit (+24 DEF/MDF). Nice standard clothes, nothing fancy.



Continuing to mosey.



Four toyboxes here, not counting the one we just opened of course.



Not sure how we're supposed to reach that one yet.



Hi again, mystery fish! Someday you'll work up the courage to say hi.



Check THIS statue out, eh?



Somehow I feel like classic Punch Tanaka wouldn't be the pious sort. Strikes me as more of a "my body is a temple" kind of guy.



His taste, at least, remains unsullied by his amnesia.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Sometimes we'll just fight some dang ol' shapes! Each shape can either take a normal attack, or sharpen its edges to attack the appropriate number of times (so, for a Triangle, three times, of course). If you steal a shape's Edges, each one will downgrade it to a lower tier of shape, except for the Triangle which winks out of existence, instantly defeating it.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Anyway, it's technically optional to go this way, but I'm feeling SAUCY.



Hovering shaaaaapes.



Nice convenient warning.



We will be ignoring it, and it will quickly become apparent why.



Music: Simple Arithmetic

It's time for another hidden side area. This one is usually called Symmetrical Cavern, and it's not hard to guess why.



Set all the terminals to match their opposite alongside the center line, and the door opens.



Everything about this cave is perfectly symmetrical. Even the enemies we encounter are all just shapes.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

One other thing about the Shape line of enemies: higher-level Shapes have increased stats, and lower chances to successfully steal Edges from them. Hexagons, in particular, are very dangerous enemies, with over twice the HP of a Pentagon and similarly spiked stats elsewhere.



Just to reeeeally drive home how much Thermal Bomb can carry you through encounters. And this is without Focus active, since you don't lose extra MP to the passive effect if you end the fight in one turn.

Music: Simple Arithmetic

Aha, we've reached Andrew's memory cave.



Guessing Buck isn't exactly an academic.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

You have now seen every Shape in the game. WOOOOOOOOOOOO!



Music: Simple Arithmetic

Oh nice, finally hit level 15 with a form! Hello, Early Riser!



For reference: a third grader like Jimmy would be studying up on all basic algebraic operands: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Looks like Jimmy's pretty good at math for his age!



Next area's got a few more elements than just terminals.



We also have to get both those sconces lit and position these cubes just so.



Nailed it.



The cave branches out a bit more, but remembering the rule of symmetry, anything we find on one side ought to have a companion on the other side.



Let's head laterally as far as possible first.



Guess that leads to toyboxes.



You can never go wrong with one of these. You can use them for base, height, OR cube!



Doesn't take long to find the next few memories.



Hm. As good as Jimmy is with math, I guess he's had something else he's not as good at. You can probably guess what it is if you've been paying attention, but the game will spell it out eventually.



On the other end of things is an overheard conversation. Don't know what exactly is going down, but it looks like Andrew really put his foot in his mouth there.



The next room has some terminals that can't be modified, but it also provides us with a movable mirror.



Let's tug that sucker all the way over here...



Curious. Walls have appeared, but we can interact with the buttons now. So it's a bit of an extended memory test: can you keep the numbers in mind as you move around and through the mirror?



If it helps, you can remember that the terminals with even numbers never get buttons.



Don't forget to recenter the mirror when you're done!



Final chamber, earliest memories.



D'awww.



Why yes I am throwing the Mortarboard right on Andrew and never looking back.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Hahahaha balls I forgot to pack an Emergency Exit. LONG WAY BACK IT IS



Music: Parabolic Smile

Back outside, a convenient fruit tree lets us recharge a bit.

Clearly we go left here.



Yusss



I like how these journals have gradually dropped all pretense of self-reflection, and thus became more Punch Tanaka.



Nailed it. Anyway, the exit is down south, but there's one last thing we can do here.



Cross the bridge to reach a familiar sight.



This takes us to uhhhhh...



What... exactly am I looking at here?



So yeah. Those hands we use to tell when an overworld area will transition to the world map? That's all thanks to Pointman here. Let's just pretend that bit about him being hungry is that he drags the kids down so they'll share their fast food fries. I want to believe that, so I will.



In any case, he's not going to hurt Jimmy, so we'll tell him a story.



...Great?



That's nice of him. If your memory is sharp, you might have an idea of what cave he means, but that's still way above our pay grade for now.



For now, at least, Pointman's aid is enough to reach the lightbulb on the Path of Enlightenment!



Pep Talk time!



Music: Let's Color Today

We're making good time, but as fun as it would be to progress further, there's something very important to notice.



We can access the Clubhouse now. Which means we can warp back to the other islands. And now that we have a full party of four thanks to Andrew, this is a primo time to go back and knock out some pretty important stuff!



Music: Oh-So-Cool Castle

We'll give Oh-So-Cool Castle one last run as we check out the first two pieces of the Funky Set: the Beanbag Chair (+1 DEF)

And the Lava Lamp (+1 ATK):



We've also got us some Abstract Art (+2 MDF, 1/5 of the Weird Set)...



And the first two pieces of the Secret Meridian inspired Geometric Set: a Happiness Sphere (+3 LUK):

And a Cube (+3 DEF):



Music: Beep Beep Boop Village

Most of the rest of today's update will be cleaning up a bit around Everchip. I, um... did you happen to check in the prison? Your actual chancellor is still in there, y'know. Unless that's a feature of the law.



Anyway, I owe Lars a proper shaking of the King here, and I'm rewarded with a reminder of what I actually need to focus on.



Blah blah blah it's Arena time. SO! The Arena is basically a chain of customized encounters, with stats scaled up slightly and some kind of field modifier each fight, which you fight in sequence without breaks. There's multiple Cups, each of which has eight fights in total, although you can back out between fights if you don't like your odds. Winning successive fights gets you scaled up points, which can be used at the Arena shop to buy stuff.



You start with the Honeysuckle Cup available, obviously presided over by Princess Honeysuckle herself. By either clearing all eight fights in the Cup back-to-back, or spending Arena Points, you'll obtain the Honeysuckle Trophy, which unlocks the Exhibition match for the Cup. This is a boss fight that, upon completion, allows you to compete in the next Cup. All pretty straightforward stuff, although this spectator will give a tip as to which combatant you'll encounter in the Exhibition.



Unlike Chuff's stock, there's no party spoilers here, although there might be technique spoilers. I consider those less essential, so I'll go over the inventory here in full.





Now, I'm going to tackle the Honeysuckle Cup immediately. It's a very safe bet to do right after picking up Andrew, and again, that Earth Badge can be very useful, especially for Helga right now. I can't guarantee I'll grab it immediately, but it's on the table for sure.



Music: Slaughter Promise

Now, while the prizes aren't necessarily spoilers? The enemies in these fights absolutely are spoilers for later areas. I'm still going to include a full video of the fights whenever I do a Cup, not least because there's some creative team themes here and it's a good indicator of what random encounters through regular play look like if you're curious, but just be mindful that there are some enemies here that I will not explain right now, and which might give away some of the thematic discovery of later zones. Anyway, here you go.

Music

Our full haul for clearing the Honeysuckle Cup, in addition to the usual XP/money rewards, is 36 Arena points and a Honeysuckle Trophy, granting us access to the Exhibition.



Music: Beep Beep Boop Village

Which we are, of course, flying right facefirst into.



Music: Slaughter Promise

Time for that rematch, Coltrane!



Let's see what a real Legato Knight can do!



BRING IT ONNNNNNNN



Music: Righteous Scrabble (8-Bit)

Yeah when Mulgren said we wouldn't stand a chance against Coltrane one-on-one? He meant it! Coltrane is every bit as much of a powerhouse as his rep indicates. To refresh your memory, his actor's moveset was either a normal attack, tensing his muscles for one turn to power slash the next, or tensing two turns in a row to slash with extreme prejudice. The actual Coltrane can do this, but he can also do area attacks after tensing his muscles with similar, slightly lower grades of strength to the single-target moves, as well as an untelegraphed Counter Stance whenever he wants. To make things more fun, at half health he'll activate his Mind's Eye, granting him a permanent and drastic boost to ATK, MAT, and AGI for the rest of the fight.

That said, now that we have a full party, Coltrane is a little more manageable as a fight. Relying solely on physical attacks makes Lars a really powerful contributor in the fight, and Andrew doesn't care about his ability to Counter at all. In general, try to rely on magic attacks when possible to avoid the Counter damage, since Coltrane will easily do enough damage to put someone down if they mess up on that even once. Also pay close attention to his tensing: one turn of tensing is usually manageable, but if he goes for two? STARTLE THAT. When he becomes a tornado of flashing blades, at the level you're expected to fight him, that will flat out wipe your party, ESPECIALLY with that Mind's Eye buff. The good news is that his Counter stance is the full extent of his defensive capabilities, so pile on the hurt faster than he does!



Music

But once that's done?



Hell yeah brother!



And we get another piece of the Pixel Set!



Music: Beep Beep Boop Village

This immediately opens up the Raspberry Cup and the related Arena stock. Let's go in for a closer look!





And, of course, defeating Coltrane in the Arena lets us get him back to Legato.



That's it for the Arena, but here's a sneak preview of who we might face in the Raspberry Cup.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Here's the King (+3 MAT, 1/6 of the Pixel Set).



Music: Quest for the Journey

Right, time to finish this stupid temple off. To spell it out: the statues dotted across the land that match up with this stupid thing have either dots or tildes on them. These dots and tildes are also found at the entrance to each temple. The order the temples were built in correlates to the markings at the entrance, which means you can work out a numerical system here. A dot is a 1, a tilde is a 4. Use that with the statues here, and you can work out an order you activate them in. I'm not putting it down here because I honestly don't know it off the top of my head, I just remember it well enough to brute force the rest.



This gets us the most treasure out of all the temples.



Furniture, lightbulb, and...



Well, we'll need to take a cat roller to it, but the Wizard's Robe (+10 DEF/+20 MDF) isn't a bad bit of kit. It's not a LOT of MP regen, but every little bit helps.



Music: Parabolic Smile

There's our new Fountain (+3 AGI, 1/6 of the Pixel Set).



Music: March of the Corgis

Back in Legato, something isn't quite right in the air here. This Tootsoldier isn't the only citizen feeling off-kilter, everyone's got something going slightly off with their day: nightmares, strange impulses, sleepwalking...



Now that we have Andrew, we can access a few new nightmare zones, and all of this in Legato is hinting at one of them. Also: most of these nightmare zones will kick our asses if we tackle them now. I'm keeping a sharp eye on the stats of the available bosses we can encounter on the wiki, and this one is definitely out of our league.



Only the Legato Knights, save for the missing LeGrange, appear unbothered.



I'll let these guys handle things here for now.



Music: Carton of Smokes, Half-Smoked

Back in Mute Notes, we'll have Inspector Ludwig turn up some clues about Castle Dragon.



Every subsequent lightbulb you have him track down increases the cost of further clues. I'll do this a few times anyway, even though I could look them up, because flavor text is fun and also another reason.



Music: My Animal Friends

Things aren't going much better in Smile.



I know Cordelia wanted out of Smile, but I doubt she'd just up and leave without sending letters or something. That's... not super encouraging to hear.

Next Time: Dr. Carruthers isn't nearly as cute as you.

Cordelia Mouse is M.I.A.? Let's look over what we know. Potentially spoilery theory stuff abound, just going off what we know in this LP

Not, uh... not exactly the conclusion I drew from the same information.

*narrows eyes*

I should clarify that my theory's about the journey, not the destination.

Music: Fortress of Nitwits

Let's keep the side content rolling! First up: Punch Tanaka's old tent atop the Wilted Lands. Now that he's doing some self-reflection, we'll reflect on his old self.



Music: Knuckle Sandwich and Ladyfingers

Yeah this looks about right.



He just wants to be cool.



He was in the habit of writing things down even before the whole monk thing!



Kay that was fun. Now, onto the main event!



Music: Cloud Sundae

There is an astonishing number of nightmare zones we can access right now, but most of them will kick our teeth in. This one, just off the beaten trail of Cloudy Hill, is barely within reach, which is exactly how I like my RPG encounters.



You can reach this area as early as recruiting Helga and Jonathon, for example. And if you do that, the encounters here will have their way with you, to say nothing of the boss.



Music: Let's Color Today

That's right, it's finally time to climb this mountainous spire!



Music: Razorwire Tightrope

Back when I first played, I went out of my way to dive right into all of the nightmare zones as soon as they became available. This skewed my playthrough somewhat, as I'd frequently get myself thrashed pretty hard for going in, but end up drastically overleveled for the main story.



Can you blame me, though? These areas are really neat and tell an entire story without using a single word!



For this place, we'll be doing a LOT of climbing.



Most of the enemies here are well-suited to the altitude. Throbbing Feathers on the left gets two actions a turn, and can either attack normally, use Annoying Squawk to startle, or throb slightly, which sometimes telegraphs a gust of wind that deals magical damage.

Hindenburg will normally either attack you or watch you. If damaged, however, it'll explode violently, using its remaining HP as a value to attack one of your party members with. This will usually drop someone outright. Stealing the Pressurized Gas from it prevents this.

Skreet can, obviously, use the Leech move to drain health, but it can also take flight. While Flying, enemies will dodge all physical attacks against them, and in Skreet's particular case, it changes its movesets: it can use sonar to give someone a Weakpoint like Andrew's Analysis does, or go for a diving Leech that does triple damage, but removes Flying. You can steal a Bat Chair from it.



The bridges creak ominously as we cross over them.



Sometimes we have to head into tha caverns here to ascend.



Cackle is an undead foe that can also start Flying. It'll use a normal attack when not Flying, and breathe fire when airborne. Unlike Skreet, once it starts Flying it doesn't come back down. You can see why Andrew's nice to have for this area, although Sunshine is an efficient way to dispatch Cackle.



Those are some long, long nooses.



As we cross this bridge, it snaps out from under us!



It's fortunately a short way back to where we came from.



Once snapped, we can just hop over it. Or float, if you're of a spookier disposition.



Way up here now, but there's still higher to climb.



It'd be a nice view, except for all the horrific flying monsters.



Come on, I was hovering! That's just downright unreasonable.



You fall a long way on this one, too. All the way back to...



This early bridge. Fortunately, any broken bridges stay broken, so retreading your ground isn't a huge ordeal.



Pud is the last unique enemy here. He'll do a normal attack, watch you to telegraph a three hit rampage, or laugh and flay himself, spending a tenth of his health to attempt to inflict Afraid on everyone.

On our way back up, we grab High Five from the Low-Level Goon skillset. Finally, we're getting the good unlocks from it.



Once you reach this bend, you'll want to swap over to Happy Little Sunflower.



Music

We're high up enough now that we're basically walking up a straight spire here.



When the wind starts picking up, burrow into the ground.



Those gusts are strong enough to carry you off the ground, and we don't need to redo any more of this.



Music: Razorwire Tightrope

We're past the clouds, but that looks a lot more intimidating here than in Secret Meridian.



As we climb, a massive shadow blots out what little light remains here.



It looks like we've woken up the bird perched on top.



It takes us into the sky for an intense battle. Are you ready?



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

BECAUSE IM NOT AYYY LMAO

Slightly miscalculated that one. Let's go take care of some less threatening bits before we fight this thing.



Music: Carton of Smokes, Half-Smoked

Pretty blunt there, buddy. We'll tackle that later, getting chumped by that other boss kind of threw off my groove for a bit.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Got ourselves a Bat Chair (+2 AGI, 1/5 of the Creepy Set) at least.



Music: Let's Color Today

We'll swing by Calm Valley for a bit. Sacred Lantern isn't exactly a town, but this place is!



Music: Perspectives of the Maypole

Welcome to Calm Valley. It puts forth a really strong atmosphere right out of the gate with that music, let me tell you.



One sprite detail about Andrew that's impossible to convey meaningfully in this format is that every so often, usually when he's about to rethink his opinion, he'll adjust his glasses slightly.



This is a less subtle sprite detail of Helga just dragging him off at top speed before he even remembers to turn on his walk cycle.



Get some rest if you need to.



Lars trudges off, leaving Jimmy alone to explore Calm Valley by his lonesome.



I'm guessing this is Mainie's hometown. Laurencin's probably around Jimmy's age, she's got that kind of energy to her.



SLEPPY DAOG



All of this stuff Rubik gives you is indeed optional. If you don't engage in his one-time offers (I think), you don't get the Marvelous Coin, and if you don't feed Cubbins the Nutrition Cube, obviously Rubik departs before Cubbins can join. But you'd have to be the kind of person that does one of those jackass evil Undertale runs to even think of trying that, plus you miss out on a free Mecha Super Ball.



sheps



fluffy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



And yeah, Rubik calls Calm Valley his home, not even close to a surprise.



so many sheps

Timothy doesn't mention Cordelia at all. I don't know if he knows she's missing. Let's... not tell him yet. No sense making him worry without any more info.



Mr. Marvelous is starting to reach a hard cap on how far his bluster can take him.



I feel bad for him, honestly. And that's not just because I'm starting to become more and more annoyed with Mr. Grouse.



For example: he's already got enough money to open a bank in a new place, deem it too unprofitable, and shut it down. No regard for the people living there like Braque.



Remember back when he tried to keep something around to remind him of Smile? Yeah those days are long gone.



You're lucky that you have that desk and those two extremely burly men to protect you because I would shake you so hard you'd cause more tectonic activity than this valley has seen in years.



A place doesn't need to have things happening to be enjoyed.



Just to demonstrate how Lars handles being shaken. He's always up for roughhousing with his nephew, up to a point.



I'm not surprised that Mainie's done with adventuring, but I am gonna miss her. She's a pretty minor NPC, but super supportive, and I like that! We'll also find some time to check in with Henry, of course.



Looks like the self-discovery is coming along nicely.



The haikus are getting gradually worse. There's still a few more as we approach The World's Library.



Ms. Robin sells the last two pieces of the Funky Set but nothing else new.



Let's check out the inn a little bit.



Helga and Andrew are on the terrace, and we have to check in on them to progress.



This is what Jimmy thinks sweet talk between a married couple sounds like. I guess he's not that far off.



But hey, they're happy with each other. Let's leave them be for a bit.



That isn't what's really happening here, of course. Helga's actively trying to make sure she's around to support her brother as much as possible, we saw as much in the Kingland Arena. But it's hard to get yourself to believe that when you've got serious depression.



We can go to the Legs of the Ancient Giant whenever we're ready. But we're not ready, not yet.



First, let's get sassy.



That bit about taunting the ram wasn't just Punch being Punch. That was a clue for how to access this area.



Use the Revolting Blob to taunt the ram into shattering the boulder.



And then a second time to get it to charge the gate open.



Nailed it. We're done here.



Music: Parabolic Smile

Anyway, the Funky Set. Last two pieces are the Peace Sign (+1 MDF):

And the Hot Tub (+1 LUK):



This is the power of the Funky Set. We're getting closer to completing some Monster and Rare sets, but those last few pieces will prove VERY elusive.

Music: Quest for the Journey

Next up: we're gonna give Dark Dungeon a crack!



Music: Eye of Newt

As soon as we enter, we're randomly locked into our Red-Billed Squawker form.



I was not kidding when I said it's basically Mario Party Pit of 100 Trials. Every floor is a small game board like this, which we normally traverse by rolling a die. Of the spots we can see: the stars award us some Dungeon Points, the skulls are encounters, the horned skulls are powered-up encounters, and the trapdoor immediately forces you to the next area.



Music: The Toys Move on Their Own

The music is randomly decided from the standard battle tracks we have available at this stage (so we could get this, Motion Sickness, War of Hearts, Toaster with Teeth, Battle in the Fire Tornado, or Interstellar Field Trip). The encounters for every five floors scale up to match certain areas: floors 1-5 sport enemies from the later areas of King's March, while floors 6-10 will have encounters from the Temple of Sight. My gameplan is to clear ten floors and then immediately head out, but we'll see if the RNG decides to play nice.



Music: Eye of Newt

As per usual Mario Party rules, you'll often get choices as to which path you take. You only have to make that choice once you arrive there, thankfully. Note the healing fountain spot in the center path: those are pretty rare, so be on the lookout for those if you're planning on an extended Dark Dungeon run!



There's also spaces where you can get a dungeon item, a Rubik space where he'll offer you a deal (from a choice of two roughly-equal options as he usually does), conveyor spaces that force you to keep moving, and lock spaces. Without a key, those paths are unavailable to you.



It's common, but not a guarantee, that you'll need a key to access toybox spaces. These are often host to rare items, with every five floors having one unique item you can obtain solely in this way. You can also get a Dungeon Point jackpot, and have a chance of encountering a Mimic here as well. Your runs through Dark Dungeon should be planned with the intent of getting rare items from toyboxes as a top priority.



By landing on item spaces, you can find yourself in possession of dungeon items, which let you tip the odds in your favor. Five of the six item types can be acquired in this way, with keys only being available from key spaces. The rest are listed below. All dungeon items are cleared from inventory when you exit Dark Dungeon, and you have a cap of 9 of each item type (except for the Ladder).

• Key: Used to open locked spaces. Some, but not all, locked spaces have conveyor spaces leading to them, making it easier to reach them. In other cases, rely on using special dice to ensure you make it.
• Trap Detector: Each one you have can be used to avoid the consequences of a trapdoor, mimic, or spikes space. Be judicious about using these: avoiding trapdoors is either a waste of a Trap Detector or virtually essential to getting those rare items.
• Ladder: Allows you to leave Dark Dungeon. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO BACK OUT EARLY AND YOU ARE NOT GUARANTEED ONE WHEN YOU HIT AN ITEM SPACE. I once went into Dark Dungeon expecting it to just be a nice short jaunt, and only got a Ladder 30 floors and change in. Never expect Dark Dungeon to be a short affair.
• Loaded Dice: Allows you to, rather than rolling, set the die to the exact value you want. Worth their weight in gold, especially when closing in on a toybox space. Save these for when it counts.
• Mulligan Dice: Allows you to reroll after rolling. These are usually not as valuable as loaded dice, but it's nice if you happen to roll exactly one of the six spaces that you don't want.
• Double Dice: Allows you to roll a second die after rolling the first one. This second roll cannot be modified in any way. Sometimes there's just vast swaths of the board you don't want to deal with. This is your answer to those areas.

Music: The Toys Move on Their Own

Important note: all furniture is just as griftable from these areas, or the Arena, as they are in their normal encounter regions. So that's nice.



Music: Eye of Newt

Good, this run will end exactly when I want it to, right on the start of floor 11 (unless it has a toybox I can easily get).



Come on, Double Dice!



Well, I didn't get the treasure, but I also avoided getting stabbed for half my party's health... more than once.



I don't even want to put this in a video, to be honest. It'd be even less entertaining than an Arena cup. That said, this is a very good way to get XP under your belt, especially if you've laserfocused yourself on one form too much and need to be forced to branch out.



I am likely to snag at least a bit of furniture though, especially if I can luck into a key space.



If you happen to land on one of these spots...



Music: War of Hearts

I don't know exactly what this status does, but it's a significant boost to all enemy stats, so uh... don't hit those spaces if you can avoid it!



Music: Eye of Newt

So uh... screw this layout in particular, huh? If you can dice your way past the trapdoor spaces (or just Trap Detector them) it's a good payoff, but I find it costs way too much for my tastes.



Good timing.



The next floor has a very reasonable treasure to get. That lower part is on a circuit, so even if we don't have Loaded Dice we can just keep looping around and trying our luck on the door, and once it's unlocked we're all clear.



If you would.



Nice!



OKAY BYE



Music: Quest for the Journey

I immediately purchase both the track for Dark Dungeon (it's dirt cheap, may as well) and the VIP Pass from Chuff:

We never have to spend a single dollar on Emergency Exits for the rest of the game. The VIP Pass is super nice and super cheap, and absolutely makes exploring Dark Dungeon worth it even for only cautiously interested players. The rest of the stuff here I'll leave alone for now, and touch on (some of) it the next time we hit Dark Dungeon.



Music: Parabolic Smile

I forgot to show off the High-Heel Shoe, but I did get the Easter Island Statue (+3 DEF, 1/6 of the Mystical Set). All pieces of this set of furniture are only available in Dark Dungeon, save for one piece sold by Chuff.



Music: Terminal Broadcast

Oh, and if you go all the way behind where you fought Jonathon Bear?

Woo, bonus furniture!



Music: Parabolic Smile

SMOOOKE ON THE WAAAATER. (+3 DEF, 1/6 of the Spooky Set)



Music: Razorwire Tightrope

Okay, round two.



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

Grimclaw alternates between two phases. The first is where it's snatched you up, and you're clinging to its back as it goes for a death spiral. You have a mere three turns to take down the Nerve Worms infesting it and pull it out of the death spiral, or Grimclaw will crash, game over, no saving throw. Grimclaw itself doesn't attack in this phase, but the three Nerve Worms do: their bite can inflict Withering, Sick, Immunodeficiency, or just extra damage. At the end of the turn, each Nerve Worm will leech a bit of health from Grimclaw, and each one that died that turn will double the strength of all remaining Nerve Worms. The strategy for this phase is pretty obvious: area attacks, lots of them, big ones. Lars can also use Counter Stance, since the damage there is good and the Nerve Worms don't have moves that aren't physical attacks.

Once the Nerve Worms are down, Grimclaw will take to the skies for a while, Flying far out of reach of your physical attacks. While up there, it can screech to damage and Startle the whole party, slam into the party for decent damage, breathe fire on one party member, or barrel towards you, twisting in agony. That last one is the telegraph move, and the payoff is a wave of darkness that deals heavy magical damage to the party. Let me be blunt: at level par for encountering Grimclaw, this will wipe your party. It's possible that Jimmy can cheese it with Barrier or Elaborate Dance, but far better is to simply Startle Grimclaw out of the move. Eventually, Grimclaw will grab you and take you into the first phase again. In the Flying phase, you need magical offense, which prompted me to, in addition to getting levels by Dark Dungeon, go grab some Roman Candles from Ashby's and a Kiondo for Helga so she can contribute magical damage with Black Spiral. Andrew and Jimmy can put out major pain, of course, but having a third attacker helps out a lot. Lars' MAT is simply too low for him to do much, but he can take a lot of punishment if played right, so you should be okay having Helga go offense every so often.



The second round is much smoother.



Music: The Noble Sea

We find ourselves safely perched in Grimclaw's old nest after the fight. This area, like Slither's cave, is very upfront about the fear represented: heights. Flying enemies everywhere, constant risk of falling, and the signature move of the boss is a divebomb with you on its back.



The Barbed Wire Wristband is a fun option if you have someone on your party who is less concerned with staying alive and more concerned with bringing the pain. With our current team, we could give it to Lars since his Lazy personality counteracts the drawback, but honestly I'd rather have it on Helga. She very often has nothing to do with healing and lots of opportunities to attack, and it's not like the chip damage can get out of control with her immunity to Sick.



Rejuvenate (15 MP) lets anyone we want have an area heal power, with regen. The heal itself is tepid, but the fact that it's regen for the bulk of it means that this bypasses Immunodeficiency, which can come in very handy. We're not exactly lacking for area healing with both Jimmy and Helga in play, but it's nice anyway!



And more furniture.



Anyway, that went all right. I have a good idea of where I want to go for next update too, contingent on how much of a pain in the ass backtracking would be. We'll see, I suppose!



Music: Parabolic Smile

Here's our brand new Floral Vase (+3 AGI, 1/6 of the Floral Set).

Next Time: I tried to look up and see what the giant's crotch looked like, but it's so tall I can't.

Music: Parabolic Smile

Ermahgerd High-Heel Shoe (+2 ATK, 1/5 of the Girly Set).



Music: Let's Color Today

So, today's play session was one where I DRASTICALLY underestimated both the threat of some bonus areas and how much time the game would take, so I'm probably going to excise out a lot of what I was actually doing for readability's sake.



Music

For the moment, we'll focus on tackling the Legs of the Ancient Giant.



Jimmy is eight.



Didn't expect Punch to have an affinity for janitors, but hey.



Honestly, the Legs of the Ancient Giant are not a hard area to get through at all.



Ten?! Okay, there has to be a nightmare zone here somewhere.



And there is, right back here.

Tell the truth: this is one of the things I tried to tackle. But unfortunately, I couldn't even get past the encounters without burning too much MP to make the boss at the end livable. I spent a lot of time on trying it, though.



Fortunately, you don't have to see any of that. In we go.



Music: The Growing Ladder

To progress up the Legs, we need to find a way to open that door. There's no lock, just a square-shaped indentation.



Hello mystery square.



With a chime, the square warps to the indentation, unsealing the door.



This brings us to an elevator! Waow.



I guess the monk statues tell what floor we're on.



Even if they didn't, the bridges between the legs give us a good indicator anyway.



The door to the elevator for each floor has more and more advanced seals.



The shapes necessary aren't usually far off, and always on the same floor.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

The Twofish is the magical counterpart of the Onefish, able to passively reflect magic, and armed with either a basic ice spell or an edge-sharpening telegraph of a three-hit ice spell.

We also have the Concentric Burtons. Their moveset is the same as a regular Burton, but the extra layers of weird radiation provide shielding. Each layer will absorb virtually all the damage from a single attack and then dissipate. The only other enemies in the Legs of the Ancient Giant are just shapes, capping out at Pentagons.



Music: The Growing Ladder

Do you just want crazy huge magical damage? Do you assume that getting hit will kill you from full health anyway? Then the Third Eye (+20 MAT, -5 DEF/MDF) is for you!



Anyway yeah. Navigating this area isn't hard at all, and it gets even easier if you need to redo it as may sometimes be the case.



PARDON ME.



Next floor.



Wonder how high up we are now.



Can't even see the ocean anymore. But I do see a crumbly bit...



I FOUGHT GRIMCLAW, THIS AIN'T NOTHIN'

Nailed it.



This takes us to the lightbulb for the area.



We can backtrack up here in short order.



Circle.



More seals, not big surprise.



Triangle down here.



And a Pickpocket's Handbook to the right. (The square is over in the other leg.) It's nice if you're doing a lot of stealing, I guess. Don't know how it compares to raw LUK increases, though.



No problem!



Why don't these elevators just go all the way down? Would make things easier.



It's not very hard to navigate this area at all, though. There's at most four cardinal exits from each elevator point, one of which is devoted to a bridge to the other leg.



And going into the nightmare zone early got me a bit of extra XP, so I don't even need to fight encounters here.



So this area just ends up kind of inconsequential to me, I guess.



Bit of a shame, since it's a cool concept and setpiece. It's just a little bland is all.



Like... this circle is in eyeshot of the door.



We really aren't doing much more than padding for time here.



This one is green!!!!!!!!!!!



Right let's move on.



Music

If we enter the leg on the right, it serves as a one-way elevator to the bottom, which is nice because of some of the stuff we have to do in The World's Library. But, again, the Legs of the Ancient Giant aren't hard to navigate at all.



Music: Let's Color Today

If we go south, we can see that we've reached our destination.



It's time to learn.



Music

In we go, then.



Uh-huh. That's your opener for this area, is it?



For one thing, there's only seven bookshelves. I know there's more than seven bookshelves worth of books in the world.



For another thing...



You gotta hand it to Andrew: he stays focused. Didn't even flinch about the dead librarian. And I agree that being up here might be dangerous, but there isn't a non-dangerous place as long as the Pulsating Mass is at large.

Punch deconfirmed for nerd.



Hopefully he's close to a breakthrough.



Lars, no.



Whoa buddy you gotta be careful where you bring up myths in an RPG. You don't even know what kind of obtuse sidequests and ridiculous bosses you could be invoking.



Interesting viewpoint.



Sure, why not?



That's the selection we have to work with, huh?



I guess Advanced Chemistry will be educational.



The other books, of course, increase ATK and LUK by one, respectively.



That's fair. Still no sign of the Secret Knowledge, though...



Why build a normal library all the way up here, though?



One click and a "whoops" from Lars later...



Hey, he did it!



Probably an entire dang dungeon!



Music: Dragon Slayer

I don't want that kind of pressure in my life right now, so we're going back to Castle Dragon for a bit.



Now that we're in the past, the contents of the castle have changed a bit.



Rather than princesses, the (unlocked) cells now contain toyboxes, for one thing.



We get a physical answer to the Third Eye in the form of the Dragon Fang (+20 ATK, -5 DEF/MDF). Honestly, we could've gotten this way earlier, the encounters in Castle Dragon aren't any different in the past.



Remember this weathered book from before? Well, now we can... still not learn much about it.



Never mind, that's a pretty handy bit of knowledge!



That's some convenient timing.



I kind of hate the Golden Cross. Like, a passive magic reflect is really good, but having that as a random chance thing makes a lot of fights, including an upcoming boss fight, much more tricky than it needs to be. Honestly I'd say just use the Compact Mirror on Lars instead and have Jimmy abuse Barrier-tanking if you're up against lots of magical foes.



One last difference to this version of Castle Dragon: it's the night just after this place became infamous.



Music

We could fight the Dragon again here, but we're not even close to ready for it. While it does start the fight Sleeping, and that's great with Andrew and Analysis on deck, it also has every stat except HP doubled, with HP getting a 250% increase. I tried it once and kind of got flattened, but I'll come back later.



Music: Parabolic Smile

At least we got the Treasure Chest (+3 LUK, 1/6 of the Pixel Set) out of it. Go us!

Music: Infinity Mirror

Anyway, The World's Library! This area's got a lot of secrets to it.



Many of these secrets involve doing things for these glowing tomes. In this case, we have to return the book found in Castle Dragon.



This opens up a secret passage!



That was convenient.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

One way that the World's Library is unique is that the encounters vary slightly depending on section. The Fossil Record is unique to the History section, for example. It can either attack normally, or roar to damage the party and maybe inflict Afraid. The roar chains into a two-hit rampage on the next turn. It is, of course, undead.



Music: Infinity Mirror

The section you're in will be clearly indicated somewhere in the room.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Here's the enemies that are universal to the World's Library. The Variable Fish has the movesets of the Onefish and Twofish, as well as the passive properties, depending on its color, which changes every turn. You can grift a Colorful Lamp from it.

We also get a Boring Lecture, which alternates between talking about boring stuff and putting someone to Sleep, and slamming into the party for minor damage. It'll talk about something REALLY boring if someone calculates with it, extending the Sleep to be party-wide.

And finally, we have the Bookworm! This is by far the most interesting enemy in the World's Library: she's got Knowledge you can steal from her, which gives you the factoids I've been putting in every enemy's description. Prior to beating the Pulsating Mass, you'll only get info on enemies from up to The World's Library. Her moveset also changes depending on which section you're in. Normally, she'll either attack, or read to telegraph a party-wide ice spell. In the history section, she'll either bite, or read to telegraph a three-hit rampage.



Music: Infinity Mirror

In the classics section, she'll either sip tea, or read, telegraphing a tea-soaked rampage that hits twice and gains a damage boost depending on how many times she's drunk tea. Most of these moves are informed by the unique monster of the area, so consider that a spoiler if you want.



We still have to track down Four and Seven to get to the Temple of the Inward-Looking Eye.



This place is a little twisty, but it's not too hard to track your location by section.



Just east is the self-help section. Bookworms here can either attack or read to telegraph a party-wide slam move, but their attack power gets multiplied by the turn count.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

This is a trait shared by Wubbly, who only has a normal attack, but grows with the power of positive thinking each turn, amplifying its offense.



This wouldn't be a problem, except that the tome in the area requests you to last at least eight rounds in a fight with Wubbly to unseal its passage. As you can see, that gets really deadly after a while!



Music: Infinity Mirror

Thanks.



The Self-Help Book is nice if you want a lot more XP but don't have any plans to ever attack with someone. I maintain the same viewpoint I had with the weird armors from the Kingland Arena shop, though.



Opposite the Self-Help section is the Pop Fiction section. Bookworms here can either Leech your blood, or read to telegraph materializing around your party and Leeching all of them.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

This leads into the appearance of the Romancipires, a pretty ham-handed reference to be honest. They'll usually just Leech from people, but every third turn, they'll instead wield a strange charisma to Mind Control someone instead. Credit where it's due: the 50's Style Vampire wasn't kidding when he said the sexy vampires of today can't use Black Fountain like he did!



Music: Infinity Mirror

Lots of upper level stuff here.



Next up is the biography section. Here, Bookworms will either attack, or read to telegraph fleeing from the fight.



As with the Self-Help section, the passage here is linked to the unique enemy for the section.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

Namely, Sneaky Lincoln. He has LODS OF EMONE you can steal, but he's very speedy and will sneak his way out of the fight as soon as he gets a chance. Your best bet of grabbing the Ancient Artifact that opens the passage is to have Jimmy Startle him, and another party member try for it with Master Criminal.



Music: Infinity Mirror

Might take a few tries, but you shouldn't have much trouble with that strategy.



Yay, a Pyramid!



From up here, we can finally go high enough to reach the second level.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

While we're up here, I get the unique enemy for the Classics section. Mr. Darcy will mostly not do anything except drink his tea, watch us, or give us disdainful looks, as befits a Victorian ponce like him. His Tea restores the party's MP, but stealing it makes him Angry and lets him do a tea-soaked rampage every turn, hitting twice and gaining a boost depending on how much tea he's already drunk.

We get the track from this toybox in the Pop Fiction section.



When you hit Periodicals, you know the library's coming to its finale. Bookworms here can either attack, or read to telegraph slashing like a maniac to hit everyone.



Don't mind if I do.



Music: Interstellar Field Trip

The Fifth Street Creeper will either attack or watch you, which telegraphs them going in for the kill, instantly dropping one of your party members. If someone else calculates with it, it will instead slash like a maniac to attack the party.



Music: Infinity Mirror

Off this way, then.



Hey, Punch. You okay?



Well that's a boss fight telegraph if I ever did see one.



Had to check.



Well, let's get through the door and get this over with.



Music

Or not.



Music: Righteous Scrabble

The Lingering Eyes attack as a duo, and like the Balanced Equation, they will attempt to balance each other out by healing each other every so often. They also alternate between open and closed states with each hit, which affects what they do at the end of the turn. If both are open, they just watch you. If one is closed, then they'll wink at someone, inflicting Mind Control. If both are closed, then they don't see you, so you don't exist, and one of your party members instantly goes down. Beyond that, the eyes share a pretty standard moveset: normal attack, a creepy glare that can Startle someone, an ice spell, and a twitch, which telegraphs one of three moves: a three-hit rampage, Combust to hit the party, or a scary look that has a chance to inflict Afraid.

This fight is a pain, because to get through it without a load of headache, you need to ensure that if you're attacking, you need to hit whatever eyes you're hitting twice that turn. Area attacks are nice, but right now your only ways of doing that are Thermal Bomb and Jimmy's Fierce Growl or Combust. It's a lot of annoying bookkeeping to deal with midfight, and if it ever gets messed up (say, by Lars' Counter Stance or the Golden Cross, or just a plain ol' Startle) then all your planning goes out the window and you've lost the ability to use a party member. I'm also unsure of which Lingering Eye you have to Startle to break Mind Control, or if that's even an option at all, I think I tried it once to no avail. Chip damage from Toxicosis and Toxic Sludge don't change the state of the eyes, at least, but on the whole I don't have a clever way of cheesing this fight. Just don't wear the Golden Cross like I did and you'll probably have an easier time of it.



Music: Infinity Mirror

Good riddance.



Music

Guess it's a good thing that the Lingering Eyes were protecting something so critical. Let's give it a once-over, then!



Hmm... Hey Andrew, think you can help out?



BELAY THAT, BRACE FOR IMPACT



Music: Skin Thieves

Aw hell, the Pulsating Mass found us again.



Wait... Buck?



Maybe it's both. He's kinda splitting the difference between Giger and Liefeld here.



Don't suppose he'll react nicely to Helga?



NOPE.



Hey bro, let's talk this over.



Help HELP HELP



Please put the Jimmy down.



Music

But then!



Music: Knuckle Sandwich and Ladyfingers

Punch Tanaka is back!



He's back in body and mind!

He got his old rambling way of talking.



Now with some new Monk Tanaka haikus!



Time for a showdown of Buck vs. Punch, right?



Music

Here it comes!



...Oh.



Music: The Thresher

That's pretty consistent with a Punch Tanaka plan.



Oh. Yeah, that's kind of a problem. HEY PUNCH, AIM FOR LAND



Thanks, Andrew. Really laid down the law there.



He heads down after Punch Tanaka, and Helga follows suit.



Music: Skin Thieves

Guys? Jimmy's still here being pinned to the wall by an angry mutant Buck. Little help.



Buck lets Jimmy down for the moment, though.



Are you gonna jump out too? Is this just what we do at the end of every island?



Ah. Never mind, carry on.



Music

Just Jimmy and Lars for now.



Pretty sage words, but we just got reunited with the family and they're already scattered to the winds.



Lars jumps out, leaving just Jimmy.



Jimmy heads out himself, but he's having a hard time thinking of beaches for some reason.



Next Time: That could have gone better.

Going to take a break for a few days, rebuild my backlog again. Talk amongst yourselves!

What would a kid like Jimmy care about a thing like a phoenix anyway

Just going to point out that this is, in fact, consistent. In all three sets, the input arrow with the larger value continues straight through to the output arrow.

anyway i've caught up and then some, so i'm reading this again