Here there be dragons. Let's Play Bahamut Lagoon!

Radia's pretty tough - she can take a heavy beating, can heal and dishes out some mean hurt. Simply swarming her won't guarantee a win, so it's better to play it safe and whittle her down as much on the field as you can first.



Don't be afraid to throw around healing items if you get cornered - the last thing you want at this point is for PANTS's unit to be killed off.



Last but not least, Radia can revive her undead companions at any time, so singling her out isn't going to work either.

Leviathan's still great however, and takes big chunks out of her HP. Summoner's are just that good.




And that should finish it.



Radia: The night should have belonged to me!!

Thank God that's over.



What, the incubators didn't give it away... uh, whoever that was? ...No, really, who was that just now-



Anyway, join us next time as we're there When the Bird-Dragon Awakens...

Sorry about the delay - school things kinda took precedence over the past two weeks. Anyway, welcome back - last we left off, we had just defeated Radia and her undead army and liberated the Magic City of Godland from the Empire's clutches.

Join us now as a legend of a Holy Dragon comes to pass...





Melodia: Come on everybody, let's take a break!

Already took one. Gyohoho!

Lukia: Hey, Melodia. Why did you leave Godland?

Melodia: I wanted to ride the dragons. And there were Mini-Devils too!

[Melodia runs off.]

BRIEFS: Wait, Melodia!

Matelite: I don't get it... Why don't Campbell and Godland fight back? Isn't it horrible being ruled by the Empire?

There's a bit of confusion about this point... The intro to the last chapter said that the city's freedom was recognized even by the Empire, while one of the NPCs in town mentions a bloody war against the Empire that they had just barely one. And then there's Matelite here, who implies that Godland layed down and let the Empire conquer them. I wonder... which story is the real one?

Lukia: Everybody's different, Matelite. Didn't Mahal fight? Donfan... Jeanne...

Sendak: Donfan... Did he disembark? I would rather he not start a ruckus... As I am the captain, it infuriates me whenever rules or orders are disobeyed...

Now that he's been name-dropped, you just know Donfan's going to do something now.

Matelite: Enough of your incessant ranting!

Sendak: Huh? Oh... I did not realize that I was rambling...

Matelite: PANTS! I leave it all in your hands!

Sendak: Well then, it is the same as always...

Taicho: If we leave it up to PANTS, we will have no worries!

[Matelite, Taicho & Sendak leave.]

Lukia: [I]Always working hard, eh, PANTS. Keep up the good work. Um... PANTS, I think I just saw a Mini-Devil.[/B]

Get me my gun.

Lukia: It looked like it was a little different than the ones on Papillon...

...Sure. Anyway, where have the others disappeared off to?



Sendak: *blah* *blah* *rant* *rant*

Sendak's still ranting, I see.

Matelite: Oh, PANTS. Some Mini-Devils came by earlier. They danced around, trying to get us to let them into our group.

And you refused them... right? Right?

Taicho: Excellent work!

Thanks... I think?



In one of the local houses, Donfan begins his usual womanizing...

Woman: Uh... yeah...

Donfan: Such is the way of the world... Donfan's burning heart. Oh, how lonely I am! Do not pretend to be shy... I can see the inside of your heart as if I were looking through a microscope.

Woman: ((Oh man... Is this guy trying to sell me microscopes...?))

Donfan: Such is the way of the world...



Busted!

Donfan: Huh?! Oh! Forgive me, Lukia!

She's here all night, folks.



HIDDEN CHARACTER ALERT!!

You heard me right, folks. There's a hidden character in this chapter that we're going to recruit that only appears if we fulfill a certain set of conditions. She's a good fighter, too - our third Light Armor, in fact - so passing her up is out of the question.



You'll have to talk to every single NPC character in town at least once in order to start the following chain of events. It's pretty easy to miss if you don't know it going in, and if you start the conversation with Melodia's grandpa in the house in the southeast corner you'll miss it, so make it an aim to pick up the secret character as early as you can.

Who is this secret character? Then read on...

Donfan: My name is Donfan. And standing next to you is the studly PANTS! The warrior of love... and captain of Kahna's Dragon Squad, PANTS!

Woman: Captain of Kahna's Dragon Squad?!

Donfan: ...Wait a minute. You know PANTS?

Woman: Will you two come with me?

[The woman leaves. PANTS turns to Donfan.]

Donfan: When a girl tells me to come with her, it is my destiny to go where ever she goes... Oh, but there are certainly other girls waiting for me... Oh, what to do...



And our mystery woman is...

Woman: She's always talking about PANTS.

Mist: PANTS...? Is that you, PANTS?! It's me... Mist, former member of the knights of Kahna!

You heard her. You may not have noticed since you didn't really know the characters much at the time, but ever since the prologue Mist has been the only Kahna knight mysteriously absent from our roster. That's because, after the fighting, she was injured and brought here.

Woman: You're awake?

[Donfan enters.]

Donfan: If I had known there was a girl sick in bed... Huh...?!

[Matelite enters.]

Matelite: Mist!! You're alive!!

Hooray!

Mist: Captain Matelite...! Yes... Ever since that day, when Kahna fell...

Matelite: Oh! I thought you had already been done in. How did you manage to escape from Kahna?

Woman: Hold on! She's ill, please don't yell at her!!

Matelite: Oh, sorry...

Mist: No... I'm okay... I feel better now after seeing you and PANTS, Captain.

Matelite: Oh, that's good! Are you being shy, PANTS?

Mist: That time... When I was unconscious... I was saved by a lone man...

Matelite: What?! Who?!

Mist: ......

Matelite: Mist! Who rescued you?!

Mist: The famous Granbelos commander... Satha Palpaleos...

Matelite: ?! ...Palpaleos?!!

Donfan: Why would an Imperial general save a knight of Kahna?!

Mist: I don't completely understand myself...

[Lukia enters.]

Lukia: PANTS! Come to Melodia's house!

Donfan: Huh?!

And here comes the plot reminder.

Donfan: Oh! Forgive me, Lukia!

Matelite: The knights of Kahna shall rise again!

Mist: Not yet... I wonder if our wish can come true... We shouldn't give up... Oh, by the way, PANTS. While I was sick in bed, I kept having this strange dream every night. In it, a man named Neal or Neill or something would point at me and say, "L R RESET! L R RESET!" What do you suppose it means?

Hint: Neill is one of the people who worked on the Bahamut Lagoon script. I don't know what the hell "L R RESET" means though.



Lukia's getting the wrong idea, but Donfan's comment is particularly interesting. Does Donfan owe Lukia for something? Did they used to be romantically involved? The game doesn't elaborate on it, unfortunately.



Anyway, there was a plot we were supposed to get back to, wasn't there...

*Bump*

Wagahai: We're going to ride on a ship! A ship that carries death! And that name too...

Meet Wagahai. He's the only normal Mini-Devil of the bunch, if you can even call him that. The other devil's Munyo, who's just like the others (i.e. annoying).



Grandfather: In such a short time away she has become such a fine, young girl. I could not be any happier.

Melodia: You didn't need to say that. You're embarassing me...

Grandfather: No, no... It's not that you will not say it but rather that you cannot say it.

Melodia: Huh? I don't understand what you just said.

Grandfather: Oh ho ho... It is an old adage said here in Godland.

[Grandather leaps to one side of the room.]

Grandfather: "Honey, welcome back. You worked late again, I see."

[Grandather leaps to the other side.]

Grandfather: "I'm home. Things were a little busy."

[Granfather leaps back again.]

Grandfather: "I was worried since you hadn't come home."

[Yadda yadda yadda.]

Grandfather: "No, please forgive me. It's not that I didn't come home, it's that I couldn't come home." That is what I meant. I wonder if that makes sense to you youngsters?

Melodia: Grandpa, you're just an old man who likes weird sayings. Everybody says you're kind of cuckoo but you just forgive them.

Grandfather: Melodia has always liked animals and Mini-Devils, even when she was a small child. She heard there were many dragons and Mini-Devils in Kahna, so she often said how she wanted to go to Kahna. I ignored her, then one day she had suddenly left.

Melodia: Grandpa, you keep talking about me! Even Grandpa just gets up and wanders out on a journey without saying anything sometimes.

Grandfather: Yes... Leaving suddenly on a journey is the lifeblood of this family. Then when we come back we have grown.

Melodia: Oh yeah! PANTS! Grandpa's goes [sic] [I]on all sorts of journeys to collect lots of sayings and stories about Godland. And he says there's something you and the others should hear!



And queue the others. Where there's a legend...

Grandfather: In Godland a very old legend is told...

In this land sleeps a dragon with the form of a bird. Filled with anger, the bird-dragon must not be awakened.

Sendak: A legend of a Holy Dragon...?!

BRIEFS: The bird-dragon... Garuda...

And arguably the most useful of the bunch.

BRIEFS: He's angry... I sense a fierce anger...

Sendak: Yes, as do I... I feel it somewhat as well...

BRIEFS: Do you know where Garuda is?

Grandfather: Yes, he has been found. He is in the western cave. Be careful. Monsters are plentiful there.

Melodia: Okay, let's head for the cave! I'll go get the dragons!

Sendak: Let's go, let's go...

Note that, after this point if you hadn't already recruited you-know-who, you'll have "Mist" your chance.



Though that's hardly a problem, of course. Now: Dragon-feeding.

Guess I should start with VicViper, as per usual. I boost his Life and Ice stats a bit to get them going.



Man, I cannot wait until we've got them as Master Dragons...

Polaris? Oh, he's just getting fired up.



Gotta keep the heat on.

Just trying to spark conversation here, y'know?



C'mon man, don't flame me like that.

Anyway, a few Royal Drugs here to get Calzone's Life stat going...



And he changes forms again, this time into a Pontilac. I believe this form is one of the FFVI cameo dragon appearances as well, if I recall.

A few points into Wh.MAGE's Thunder stat transformers into an Earth Slayer. Though it's not going to last for long...



One Diamond Jacket later:

Presto-chango, Wh.MAGE is now, paradoxically enough, a Gladiator now. This is one of the final forms before the Holy, Dark and Master forms, so you'll have to get used to seeing this form over the next while.



Might as well get started on the other stats.

Yep.



Brandon, meanwhile, is already in one of his final forms. Thus: time to raise his attack stats with some Long Swords.



Might as well nip the blatant Uni-uni-ism right in the bud...

Just a little more to push it over the top...



While I'm at it, I get started on raising Truffle's life stat next - the next Holy Dragon, Garuda, is powered by that stat and is too good not to use, so I drop a few Life Grasses into that stat so that I can finish it up with Bikkebakke's mushrooms in one big go.

Grandfather: 1 Mini-Devil means a break-up, 2 Mini-Devils mean happiness, 3 Mini-Devils mean something new... Okay Melodia. Now you try saying the rest.

Melodia: Let's see... 4 Mini-Devils mean meeting somebody new!

Grandfather: Indeed. Well done.

Melodia: Thanks!

Ah, family.

Melodia: The Holy Dragons'll definitely be our friends! No matter how mad they get we'll be okay!



What preparations? I've already made them.



New party configurations... Mist joins Rush's team for now so he'll get the movement boost from her Sprint ability. I decide to swap in Wagahai as well just for the hell of it so that the levels between Frenze and Reeve don't get too far out of whack.

...Yeah, I'm weird like that.



Anyway, no pre-battle conversations today - we jump straight into another defeat-the-boss battle.

This guy here, specifically. Recognize him? He was one of the guys who tempted Sauzer and led him to one of the other Holy Dragons.



Anyway, there are a whole buttload of treasure chests in this battle, and we'll want to grab them all since there are a few good things in them. Fortunately, they're not too far out of the way, so we can just arc around and snatch them as we fight our way through the caves.

Note the new terrain type apparent in the battle - lava puddles can be cooled with Ice magic and turned into regular floors, making them more of an inconvenience than a threat.



Matelite leaps forward and snatches a High Magic Gin, an item that restores 500 MP to one ally. It's a bit overkill, considering that the mages don't get that much MP until very far into the later leves (around level 60-70, I believe), but hey! Free MP.



Let's get this party started.

On one side, our fighters are wailing away at the majority of the enemy's forces with some ease.



Oh yeah, gotta love the summoning arts.



This resiliant bastard, meanwhile, is taking a few blows too many to go down.



Not to mention these guys, who can drain back some of the damage dealt to them.

Leviathan, though, is just too much. Always, always use summoners.



They're also great for freezing stuff, doncha know.



Anyway, you'll need Earth attacks to break down the walls here, so if you don't have any you're flat out of luck.



Meanwhile, the others begin splitting up, PANTS heading north to pick up an Aurora robe while Matelite heads south to clear out a path to the other chest.

Yep.



Rush begins raiding the chests here. The left one contains a moderately-useful rapier, which will probably go to Lukia. The other one, meanwhile, contains a sandstorm trap.



...Which is, in reality, a Nightmare spell in a box. Yay?

Matelite, meanwhile, trips a Lullaby trap...



The last chest coughs up a Dark Grass, helpfully enough.



Several turns later, our team reconvenes at this entrance here and busts it down.

The first few rounds go normally enough, as you'd expect, but...



One of the enemies has the strange ability to turn our team... into rabbits, stripping them of their abilities until the status is lifted. Yeah, I'm scared too.



A simple Cleanup is enough to lift it, thankfully.

The boss takes a hit from the crossfire here, which I assume was what triggered its advance.



Good thing we're almost finished offing the other monsters, then.



What is with that rabbit and making friendly?



Holy shit.

This is why you'll want to take out the other enemies first, by the by. The boss here, and pretty much from here on out, are usually strong enough that they can kill a weakened party in one hit if you're not careful, so clearing out the rest before moving onto them is pretty much the highest priority.

You'll also want to avoid going into melee fights with them as well, since risking an attack on your turn leaves you open to an attack on theirs as well. When an enemy can kill you in two turns, you don't want to take chances.

That chest, by the way, contains a BlackBurn, a strong knight armor that we won't be able to buy until the very end of the game.



The fighting continues...



The Grand Moth nearly takes out Calzone here. The bosses here don't fool around.



Fortunately, neither do our healers.

This is gonna take a while...



Fast-forwarding three or four turns, since I'd rather not have to type "and they damaged him again" over and over...



...Aaand that's a wrap.

Sendak Princess? What is wrong?

BRIEFS: Valitora and the other Holy Dragons... They're excited...

Matelite: Well? Are they happy that our party is bigger now?

BRIEFS: I don't know...

Sendak Are you all right, Princess?

BRIEFS: Yes... I'm okay... ((I have come...))



BRIEFS: ((Garuda... I have come... Valitora and Leviathan are here too...))

[There's a flash of light.]



[BRIEFS collapses.]

Sendak Princess!! Get up!!

Matelite: BRIEFS!!

BRIEFS: Garuda... Why are you... Are you angry...? Is it hatred? Ugh!!

Sendak Princess!! Get up!!

Matelite: BRIEFS!! We must hurry back to Papillon!!

Manyo: Manyoo!! (...!!!)

This isn't good. With BRIEFS down, the Resistance is down our strongest spellcaster and our Holy Dragon search will have to be put on hold. So with that...



Next time: We face down Sauzer and Palpaleos one final time in a Showdown in the Burning Sands.

What the heck, I’ll throw in another update for good measure. Gotta make up for lost time, right? Anyway, last we left off, we had just finished working our way to the Holy Dragon Garuda and BRIEFS had read its mind. However, the intense hatred of the Holy Dragon overwhelmed her, rendering her unconscious.

Join us now as we prepare for the...





Long, long, super long monologue here. I think I'll just sit back and let it speak for itself...

Hornet: ((The desert land of Dafila... It's hot... suffocatingly hot... a lagoon of sand... We are currently right here on the map... Our journey up to now... While searching for the Holy Dragons we've drifted about in the seas of the sky... WE've made Princess BRIEFS suffer the anger and the sadness of the Holy Dragons... Tonight, at Papillon's bar I'm going to drink all night while praying... For Princess BRIEFS's sake... She fainted from the anger of the Holy Dragons... Princess BRIEFS... Holy Dragons, why do you suffer? What do you find difficult...? Is it all... This world of Orelus, with its endless days of fighting... Is it all madness? Is it the same as how I feel... The only thing I can have faith in is this sky... However... I have been saved... Matelite and the others... They're so kind to the point where I can't stand it... Can their way of living work for me... Since they're here with me... I've started to smile... Don't you think, Sauzer... It's just like you... This letter... The sender was you, Emperor Sauzer... The contents go like this... "The Holy Dragon Jormungand sleeps in the deserts of Dafila. I shall be waiting for you there. Come if you dare, Resistance." You don't understand what happened then, do you... At that time too... It was like time had stopped... It was such a lonely bar...))



Sauzer: [I((]Take up the sword for me... Your strength as a Cross Knight is needed... To dominate the world of Orelus... To dominate over the entire sky...))[/I]

Hornet: ((The entire sky... And then what will happen? The sky will not become anyone's possession... We are embraced by the sky, floating aimlessly, with no place to go... I will never again hold a sword...))

Sauzer: ((So you're afraid of fighting, huh.))

Hornet: ((Afraid... perhaps. However, Sauzer. Putting down swords... People living without being hurt... To me, that is the most courageous decision of all...))

Sauzer: ((Hornet. Your dream to have a big ship floating in the sky... Let me ride on it someday. And let me fly around my sky... Until that day... ...stay alive.))

-

Zora: Everyone, come here!



Meanwhile, back on the bridge of the Papillon...

Zora: ((Listen, BRIEFS doesn't seem to be doing very well... Even if we go into battle against Emperor Sauzer on Dafila, we must let her rest. Now is an important time... BRIEFS is enduring the pain of a Dragnar. We have to endure too. Okay! Take care of the rest!))

Hornet: ((Cheer up! We're almost out of the thunderhead! Dafila is a desert lagoon... It's going to be hot!!))

Rush: ((We're leaving the clouds! Countdown! 3... 2... 1... 0... !!!))



There we go. All that whispering was putting me on edge.

Bikkebakke: Actually, PANTS... I hired an employee for my mushroom shop. If I don't expand my store I won't make much money.

Bikkebakke's got big plans, it seems. Let's leave him to them then.



Sendak: We will not be able to avoid a battle...

Sendak's worrying about the situation. We don't want to fight Sauzer so soon, but his knowledge is forcing our hand. What to do, what to do...



Matelite and Taicho, meanwhile, are busy trying to clear their heads.



Truce: Can we fight without BRIEFS? As we are now, we should be prepared enough to fight Sauzer, but...

But we'll be short a summoner as well. I guess we'll be relying full-tilt on our dragons then.

Crew member: [I]A man of the sky... Although he's just a small speck, there are times when he can feel it... He says when he doesn't want to show such weakness he heads for a thunderhead... At those times... We, the crew, grab a book and get some shut-eye...

He's the employee Bikkebakke hired, by the way. One he finishes talking, you can buy books and mushrooms from him.



Barclay's practicing his pitch for when he'll start selling those Matelite merchandise.

Barclay: Hyaah! I'm just doing a little practice... I won't be able to fight forever, you know. Well... um... I want to find a cute wife right away and then retire!

Anastasia, no doubt. You can pretty much see the romance coming from a mile away.



Reeve: No!! Not like that!! You do it like this!! Remember?!

Update on the Frenze/Reeve situation. Reeve, fed up with his partner's moping, has set his eyes on making Zora's Son his new partner-in-crime, but the lad's natural incompetence is getting in the way of progress.



Frenze: ...Lan-lan-lancer...

Frenze, meanwhile, is lying in bed contemplating revenge. You know, there's a Dafilan proverb,that revenge is a dish best served cold...

Time for Gunso's thought of the day.

Gunso: ((*scratch* No, no... I'm not neglecting it. *scratch* I must help Taicho return Mahal to its former glory. *scratch* That is why I must live...



And Anastasia's too.

Anastasia: They say that when dragons mature they can become Master Dragons. I heard that if you raise them until they become adults, they'll become Master Dragons. I heard so from Barclay.



Oh lord, how did Donfan get into the women's barracks?

Jeanne: But if I catch him looking at me...

Donfan: ((Oh no, what should I do... What shall I do... This is the biggest crisis of my life!))



Oh, I see. They trapped him so he couldn't do anything. Poor, poor, miserable Donfan, always getting the short end of the stick.

Nelbo: Good idea, don't you think?

Donfan: ((Important lesson!! Stay away from wizards!!))

Joy: Nelbo and I are keeping watch. Only when we're about to go into battle do we let him out.

Donfan: ((Important lesson!! Stay away from priests!!))



Ectarina: But... That letter... Who... From somebody here...?

Ectarina's being creeeepyyy...