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

On another note, we now have access to sidequestss as well! Endlessly repeatable, you can work your way through the sidequests as many times as you want in order to level up your teams and bring in a steady stream of income. They're entirely optional, however - you can easily beat the game without completing a single one - but if you're finding that your teams just aren't cutting it, feel free to complete one or two side-missions to bring them up to snuff.

For now, sidequests come in two flavours (with two more being added later on, one being hard and the other being unbeatable except though New Game+ runs):



The Granbelos Fortress stage is reminiscent of the battle way back in chapter 2, except with smaller chokepoints, more enemies and more varied terrain. This is probably the easiest of the side-quests to complete; as long as you have a decent team, you can pretty much steamroller the oposition. This might be the reason why the stage gets replaced later on (though one could also chalk it up to thematic reasons as well).



The Easy Dungeon, on the other hand, is much more spacious, has slightly tougher enemies and has access to new types of terrain. Navigating the battlefield isn't too much of a hassle if you've been raising an Earth Dragon; Earth attacks can clear out the blockades in the upper corners of the map, and Ice attacks can freeze the lava flows to allow people to cross them. Overall, it's not a tough battle at all, as you can deal with the enemies in manageable numbers and fight them on your own terms.

Note that the enemies in both side-quests change as you progress through the game; though the terrain remains the same the entire time, the monsters and soldiers you fight will eventually be replaced by their stronger pallet-swaps in order to allow for a steady increase in EXP gains to match your rising levels. In any case, whether or not you complete the sidequests are up to you, but don't be afraid to give them a shot if you're feeling underpowered or underfunded.



Anyway, let's get this battle over with now. Note that we're back to defeating the boss again, which means we can ignore the small fry in favour of charging forward for an easy win.



God, I love level 10 attacks. <3

I've been waxing poetic about how awesome Summoners are for a few updates now, and here's definite proof as to why that's the case. With the largest range of any spell we've acquired yet and the power to back it up, the Summoner's main skill lies in wiping out large groups of enemies, and quickly. This only gets more ridiculous as the game goes on, when BRIEFS and Sendak gain access to spells with ranges as large as a ridiculous 7-panels, and that's really fucking big.



There aren't that many enemies on the map, oddly enough. Other than Zomberd and a few other units, the map is completely empty. Strange...



Anway, our team makes their usual march forward. Since the Flame Magi in the middle absorb fire attacks, PANTS's unit opted for using Drug Hit to try and weaken him.



To which he tries to fire back with a new spell, Petrify, It's bad, but not brokenly so; as long as you have a few heals, you should be fine when dealing with it.



Aside from the usual shenanigans, you can also use terrain to attack your opponents if you're feeling clever. As seen here, Anastasia and Calzone blew apart the bridge, stranding the Magi unit in the water and leaving them to drown. Sinister, but effective!

'Course, I'm too lazy to wait that long. Bombs away!



#1 reason to carry a mage around: manipulating terrain. They make poor damage dealers, but their elemental mastery and range are only rivaled by the Summoners themselves.



Oh hey, I completely overlooked this unit here. Too bad it doesn't last long enough to make me care.



Inching a little bit forward, we find out Zomberd's true motivation for leaving the stage barren: IT'S A TRAP!



Never mind, false alarm. Phew, I thought I was worried for a second.



Calzone, why do you insist on doing it wrong? >

Mage, Mage, go away,
Come back another day~



The catapult by the boss takes a huge chunk out of Anastasia's health, but the collective healing prowess of Zora's unit more than cover the cost of damages.



Oh damn it, Wh.MAGE, not you too.



I try the drowning strategy again, but mostly to knock out this bridge here; with it down, the Brumbaar and Highlander units to the west won't be able to cross, keeping them out of the fight entirely.



Normally, I would be angry at Calzone for forgoing Thunder attacks, but this time he's struck gold by targeting the box next to the Brumbaar. In case you couldn't tell, they're fighting over an armory right now and those forts are filled with gunpower. And when you use fire near gunpower stores, well... let's just say it gives the spell a little more bang.



Anyway, our fighters start to clear out the soldiers that are near us before rushing the boss. This is mostly for the benefit of the added security.



For those of you who were on the fence regarding Mini-Devils, here's all the proof you'll need to see that they're bad.

Oof, Anastasia's unit takes a rough blow from the Groyer unit (which was defeated just after by PANTS's team), forcing Zora to give them much needed healing.



Time to wail on the boss!



Zomberd: Fine! Take the armory!! It won't make a difference!



And that's all she wrote!



Join us next time as we finally learn more about The Legend of the Holy Dragons!

Awesome, Brandon turned into a Tiamut!

And Polaris...is...a spool of blue cotton candy.

I've never seen the "joke" summons you get with the Uni Uni dragon forms. What do they look like?

They look like babyish versions of their normal selves, basically, with even a cutesy name to match. Valitora (or rather, Vali), for example, looks like this:



Ain't he cute?

On another note, while trying to create the Uni-Uni form for the above screenshot, I came across a third unique form that I seem to have missed! Behold, the Lonely Dragon:



That's right, if you abuse your dragon and have its Intimacy go to zero, it grows lonely and acts like an even worse Uni-Uni (yeah, I didn't think that was possible, either). Make sure to keep your dragons happy and well-fed at all times!

Whew.

Sorry about the horrendous delay; September was NOT a good month for me. Anyway, last we left off, Princess BRIEFS had awoken from a vision with the Holy Dragon, Valitora, and grew uncertain from its words. After steeling herself with help from Zora, the Kahna Dragon Squad set out to free the country of Campbell from Imperial forces so that they may learn the legend of the Holy Dragons from BRIEFS' aunt.

Join us now as we learn of...





Zora: Are you going with the princess to the castle? While you're doing that I'll be walking around town. (pause) (I wonder how he's doing...)

Matelite: Hey! What are you talking so needlessly about?! We have to kick the Granbelos Empire out of Campbell before that!

Zora: I know that!

Matelite: By the way Zora, I heard you hit BRIEFS. Is that true?

Zora: It's true. Who did you hear that from?

Matelite: What?! You really hit her?! Unforgivable!

Zora: What are you going to do about it, huh? What are you going to do with me? Well, Matelite! What do you say? Do you want me to hit you too?!

Matelite: ...No thanks. (Regrettable... I'll go tell Taicho later...

I love this scene. Seeing Matelite out-stubborned by Zora is really a sight to see.

Now that we're free to roam around a bit, let's run a little reconnaissance, yes?



Matelite: (And then my plan will be complete...)

What is his plan, you ask? ...Well see.



Taicho: Even though they have destroyed the weapons munitions, surprise is the key! Let us be well prepared!



Hornet: This time you should take off from the Dragonkeeper's place.

Sendak: When the princess is nearby, my power swells up almost as if I have become a Holy Dragon myself... (This is no good... I'm too ecstatic... this old man is this happy because he can become strong by borrowing power. Oh! I'm being absentminded again. I need to stop doing that.) PANTS! Good luck!

Matelite: That's right! Sendak works harder than three people combined!

Oh Sendak, you lovable goof.



Referring to Rush and Truce, of course (though I guess she could be referring to Matelite and Sendak as well...)

...Hmm? Who's this at the bridge's entrance?



>Ask him yourself.

Anastasia: You should be able to at least do something as simple as that!

All right already. Sheesh.

Anastasia: Thanks, PANTS!



>Tell me what you hate.

Heh heh heh.

Hornet: What I hate? Hmm, I get goose bumps at just the thought of Uniuji.

Uniuji? Ech.

Anastasia: Well, how'd it go? What did he say he likes?

......

>Sweet Wine

...Yeeah, I totally choked here. :/

Anastasia: Ah, I see! Did you hear that Ectarina? Okay, let's go.

Rush and Truce say the exact same thing as last time, so let's head further into the ship.

Manyo: Manyoooo! (She's pretty tough to be able to dance with us!)

Melodia: I like Mini-Devils! There should be more of them!

>They get in the way of shop people.

Also, they suck.

Melodia: It's okay! Melodia will tell you how! Ah! Then let's dance together! You too, PANTS!



Frenze: Our friendship, it's...

An update on the Frenze/Reeve soap opera. Reeve, upset and annoyed by Frenze's homesick moping, gets fed up and decides to look for a new partner-in-crime, plunging Frenze into an even deeper depression. Of course, the bed-ridden Lancer won't let this transgression stand, as we'll see later...



Barclay: The items, money, and experience you earned will remain. If you continue without giving up, both we and the dragons grow stronger.

More dragon fun-facts from Barclay. As per-usual, they're pretty handy overall if you're going through the game for the first time, but they're not otherwise vital.



I don't really have much say in the matter here ("but thou must!", etc.), but let's play along with what Gunso has to say.

Gunso: Taicho wasn't like that a long time ago. *scratch* As captain of the knights of Mahal he was admired by everybody. However... *scratch* Hahah, it's a long story. Someday, the chance for me to tell you will come... *scratch*

He doesn't have to tell us, actually - we get to see what happened to Mahal for ourselves a few chapters from now...

And like most Gunso conversations, he leaves us with some of his ???. It works in the exact opposite manner that the Princess ??? does; instead of raising the Transformation stat, it lowers it all the way to zero.

Anyway, over to the women's barracks now.



Zora doesn't seem to be able to keep still. Can you blame her, though? We're freeing her home country, after all.



Anastasia: Max out their fire, water, and thunder elements, and then their heal or poison attribute! And their attack or defense! Barclay was saying that's how you do it. If you do that, we wizards will become even stronger. And then Barclay and the others will only play a supporting role.

Remember when Anastasia and Barclay couldn't stand each other? Yeah, me neither.

This is also our informal introduction to the Light and Dark forms of dragons, which develop exactly as Anastasia described. However, we probably won't be seeing them for a long time, as maxing out a dragon's Attack or Defense probably won't be done naturally until sometime after chapter 20. Take note and lock it away.



Anyway, back to the other half of the wizardly duo. Ectarina seems to be holding a bit of a stalker-ish crush on Hornet...



And Frederica is having one of her usual fainting spells. Nothing to see here, let's move along now.

BRIEFS: PANTS... PANTS... My body... something's wrong. It won'y move... like I want it to... I don't want you to see me like this, PANTS... Valitora... the Holy Dragon inside me... PANTS... Help me... Give me... your hand...



Some weird shit's going down with BRIEFS again. I hope this doesn't become the status quo.

Hahaha, what am I saying? Of course it will. We are playing a JRPG, afterall.



Valitora: Do not think... empty your mind... And release my power...



BRIEFS: PANTS... It appears the Holy Dragons don't want us to know about the legend... But... we must keep going... I'll be okay now. I'm going with you all to Campbell. PANTS... keep this a secret from the others... It will only worry them...

Yeah, some seriously strange stuff is coming up lately. Anyway, that's enough dialogue for now - let's go feed our dragons!



Bikkebakke, thankfully, is still well-stocked with those oh-so-wonderful mushrooms he has, so I decide to pick up a nice bunch to feed the dragons with. Really, there honestly is no better way to raise their stats than through Bikkebakke's stash.

Of course, one downside is that it has the tendency to up Loyalty and Fidelity as well, stats that we do not want raised. (His Thunder stat rose quite well, though).

Thankfully, it's really easy to reverse the process. Though you can't see in the screenshots above, one heal is more than enough to lower the stats back into a normal range.



Yeah, raising stats with mushrooms gets a bit... annoying after a while. Still, look at those gains!

Again, one heal should do.



I figure I'll start dumping some of the other elemental items that have been piling up lately onto Brandon, mostly to balance out his stats a bit more. He's turning out quite nicely, to be honest - a few more levels in his three main stats and he'll be unstoppable.

Anyway, that's all for now. By the way, didn't the Dragonkeeper have something to tell us?



Huh. Thanks for letting us know that.

(I'm not sure if this is a consistant thing, but as near as I can tell, the Dragonkeeper will give you some hints and tips if you go to him before the beginning of a battle. The More You Know?)

Right, let's get bizzay.



No major changes to our team this time. We'll be getting a few new additions fairly soon though, so expect the roster to shift around a bit in the near future.



We'll see about that, bub.

And the battle's off to a quick start, with BRIEFs and Brandon double-teaming the two Magi north of our starting point. Damage-wise, I don't expect them to last beyond the first turn.



Matelite and Polaris confirm my prediction and wipe the right Magus off the battlefield.

PANTS sets to work taking out this Gran Launcher, but takes a small hit from the Auto-Cannon just North of the Magus. Dealing with these things is this map's quirk, but if you've built up your Thunder stats enough you can feel free to raze them all to the ground as you move towards Zomberd.



Anyway, the others set to work pummelling the remaining Magus, but oddly enough he manages to survive.



And the Auto-Cannon fires again...

Matelite: Destroy the cannons using thunder techs!

Look, I just said.



Anyway, a few more blasts from the home team and the enemies go down. But what's this?



Presenters! I wasn't expecting to run into these guys here. Anyway, just like in FFVI, these guys are holding onto some nifty treasure that we'll get when we take them down. Generally speaking, if you're looking for Presenters, you have to flush them out by smashing Fortresses with thunder techs, as they won't appear otherwise.

The loot we get from these particular two are a pair of High Drugs (the axe and armor are from killing them with non-elem attacks), which make for pretty potent healing. But since healing isn't much of a problem, we can safely sell these for a pretty sum. Things are looking up, it seems.



Anyway, moving onward, the PANTS Platoon heads North and proceeds to slaughter. Nothing much to see here.

Although it's worth to note that the enemy's HP growth starts to grow at an increasingly large pace from here-on. I'm guessing this is mostly to counter-act our own leaps in strength (an enemy with normal growth would be dead in two hits), but eh.



After a period of more fighting, the two units (finally) go down, clearing our way north. Not too bad, so far - we're already half-way through and they're already on the run.

PANTS is looking a bit low on MP at this point, but a Magic Gin is more than enough to bring him back to fighting form.



Brandon, too, could use a bit of perking up, having taken a beating up until this point. I should probably start buffing up our dragon's defenses at this point... eh. I'll give it a few more chapters, just to stock up a bit on funds.



Anywho, the fight northward begins again in earnest, with our dragons rushing ahead and pounding this mage while the catapault further up is the only thing giving aid.

Well, that's that! Time to head north and smash the boss.



The castle siege begins like pretty much every other battle so far - bombarding the units ahead of us with dragon spells and techniques.



Ugh. Not a big deal, just... annoying.

Anyway, Brandon clears the path by finishing off the Groyer unit...



And PANTS leads the surge with his trademark Flame Hit, thrashing every enemy within killin' range.



Vic follows up with an attack of his own, of course.

Nothing wrong with a bit of last-minute healing - last thing I want is for Zomberd to get a lucky hit in on PANTS' unit, since if they're gone it's over.



Finally noticing that we've slaughtered most of the eastern squad, this lone unit here is making a mad dash north to try and prevent us from killing his boss. Not that he'll succeed, of course.



Zomberd's unit strikes back on his turn, and he strikes hard. If the odds weren't so heavily weighed in my favour at this point, I would be a bit nervous.

That said, the odds are heavily weighed in our favour, so the battle's conclusion should be obvious.



Not anymore. Take a hike!



Victory tastes sweet, doesn't it?

Matelite: I, Royal Guard Matelite, hereby declare Campbell free! Citizens of Campbell! From now on Campbell belongs to you! (beat) Huh...? What's wrong, citizens of Campbell?

He's wondering, of course, why the city is still silent after being freed. There are reasons for that, as we'll see later.

Taicho: Matelite... that proclamation is for the queen to give.

Matelite: That's right! Let's go to the castle!



Truce: We're keeping watch to make sure the Imperial Army doesn't come back. This was Rush's idea. He too has become an excellent soldier.

Rush: Stop! You're embarrassing me!

Ah, character development.



Sendak's being frantic as usual. How's BRIEFS' feeling, by the way?



BRIEFS: The Holy Dragon Valitora is angry...

Sendak: Princess... I understand... I can sense it a little as well.

Up at the castle, the citizens and servants have mixed feelings about their newfound freedom. On the one hand, they don't have the Imperial army breathing down their necks, but on the other hand they're afraid that Sauzer will return in force. It's a complicated issue, to say the least.



Even the dogs are a bit grumpy.



Down in the basement, Matelite and the Queen are having a bit of a row. Let's listen in and see what's going on...

Matelite: Oh! If I had to change as much as you did I'd be much happier feeding dragons!



Taicho: Matelite! Calm down!

Matelite: How can I calm down when I hear something like this?! You pitiful queen of Campbell! That you are much happier being ruled by the Empire...

Taicho: Excellent work! Now let us prepare to bring our plan to its fruition.

Matelite: Yeah... the plan! I wanna get the hell out of this place, but I can't leave just yet!

The plan in question is to sell a Matelite-themed set of armour for knights to raise funds to rebuild Kahna castle (I am not making this up).

Taicho: Have you calmed down?

Matelite: ...Not yet.

Matelite: Bah...

Matelite and Taicho don't have much encouraging to say.



Queen Campbell: Do you still intend to start wars? All the wars ended when Sauzer too control of the world... Sauzer's desire is to unite the world. He has done that. That is why we cannot resist him... If we obay him we are still free. You certainly can't call it true peace. But, I... No, what can you do about it? The Empire might come back to retake control of Campbell. If that happens, will you protect Campbell? Can you do that? Please... Don't watch out for us.

(BRIEFS enters.)

BRIEFS: Aunt...

Queen Campbell: I have nothing more to say to you!

BRIEFS: PANTS... I heard most of it from the people upstairs. PANTSm please. PLease let us be alone...

Sendak: (...Says something here, but I missed screencatching it.)

BRIEFS: I know, Sendak. Sorry, PANTS. Let us be alone for now.

Outside the cell:



Sendak: (That's it! At a time like this we need some recreation!) PANTS! There is a place in town where we can have a drink. I shall be waiting for you there!

Sendak, seeing a chance for Party Times, offers PANTS a free drink at the local pub. Since there's nothing else to do here, we might as well take him up on his offer.

But first, a romp about town!



Hey there!

Battlefield Salesman: Thank you for all your help. I'm stocking up on new things, so come see me again!



Also: A letter. Dare we read it?

Letter: Hello, Battlefield salesman. You're always on one journey to the next. I wish you'd stop by my store when you come back to visit. I want to see you. But no alcohol. I'm lonely... I miss you.

All at once now: D'awwwwww.

Anyway, let's take up Sendak on his offer now, shall we?

Sendak: (I have been thinking, I too feel the struggle of the Holy Dragon within the princess... Being the only other one who can feel it, I wish to console her... But how chould I sympathize with a girl at her age?



Well boo.



Elsewhere, Bikkebakke is being scammed out of his money. I tell you, that boy...



Say, the Dragonkeeper mentioned something about the guy, didn't he?

Bartender: Oh, I see. You should meet the captain. He's on the 2nd floor. He's a very pathetic excuse of a person. He's never even been deemed an enemy by the Empire!

Ouch, that's harsh. The dude can't be that weak... can he?