Just What is an Edge Fencer, Anyway? Let's Play Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2!

I had it in my mind to draw an elaborate scene of Lynn attempting to seduce Aera... But, for whatever reason, it ended up as something mild and simple. I'm not at home right now, as I'm unable to provide a good version atm:

Edit: Better scan uploaded!


At any rate, I knew Lynn wouldn't be home from my own playthrough, but your humoring me is appreciated. :3

Awesome, fanart in my LP. Is that Dinah getting all jealous in the back? I approve!


And now for your regularly scheduled update.


Right, right. I suppose I should get to work on that "plot" thing. Let's hand in the two summonite gems we're carrying around, and go from there.


Yes, but where could it be?


Well there's a shocker. You mean there's a fourth fortress to go with the Wind, Water, and Thunder ones? This is just like the first game where we were supposed to surprised that there was a Southern Sword to go along with the Northern, Western, and Eastern ones.


Just maybe!


Oh, Dinah! Could you be any more selfish?


Right behind the fortress are the Forgotten Woods, but how forgotten could they be if the merchant brothers came back here? His advice is just to tell us that breaking an enemy's weapon nets us a material, but I've only mentioned that a dozen times already.


You're gonna run a shop in an abandoned building at the ass end of a forest called the Forgotten Woods? Have you thought this through?


Here's some of the enemies you fight back here. For whatever reason most of them are wind-element.

How about another rare medal?


Hmm, fork in the road. We can enter the cave, or jump down one of the holes. Except of course, one of the holes leads back to the cave entrance.


Well, the top one leads to the top of the cliff. I head back down the mudderfall to cut grass before I move forward.


Down here are some very annoying beetles and reptiles. Beetles get to fly freely around, so you frequently have to jump to attack them, but they have dashing attacks from above and are just generally annoying.


Oh hey another Rare Medal.


Those Windleons down here have a chance to drop Gale Ore, and hey, more materials are always welcome.


There wasn't much else of interest accessible from the first hole, so we head onward.


Smash some crates (what are crates doing out here in the middle of nowhere anyway?), gain some levels.


Down another hole we find some more grass and a treasure chest with our second Fist Shapestone.


They like to mix flying and land enemies down here, don't they? Clobber Rexes are slow and easily kept at a distance with a spear, but be sure to clear out the birds first or they'll keep harrassing you while you're busy.


Hey! Dinah levels again and learns her second attack spell! The first game only had two attack spells for each element, but this time we'll get four.

Man, they really named this forest poorly. Who else remembers this place?


And you know how much Aera loves her fortresses!


How would he even get back here without meeting Bruno? The only way here is through the Thunder Fortress!



Yeah, have I mentioned what a good job you did there?


So it's sort of like being from the same hometown?



In other words, there's a boss there waiting for us.


Oh come on, like you're ever in any danger.

Anyway, moving along we find our second Spear Shapestone in a chest off the beaten path.


Also, another ore drops.


And then Aera drops. (Down a hole)


You can see the spot where we picked up the Rare Medal there on the left.


And then it's time for a game of punch-the-boulder! There's two paths here, but with the particular geometry in the way, you can only take one of them per visit.


But if you come back from the other side, you can get the treasure chest that's on the other path, then head right back up the stairs, and save yourself a little grief.


Said chest contains a Gale Ore, bringing our stock up to three.


You know, that vine doesn't look very sturdy. But just past the top is the fortress! And you know what that means!


Time to patch up our weapons so we don't break them against the boss.


Aww, I was hoping for Heart.


Maybe it's fire? Do you have unpleasant memories of being chased out of a village by villagers with pitchforks and torches?


I make sure to equip Dinah's new spell so as to show it off in the upcoming fight.

You remember what Bruno did when we first met him? He molested you, stole your heirloom, forced you into a gimpy transformation, and sic'ed his robot centaur on you. I would much rather this guy just want us dead.


Oh good, he only wants to kill us.

Video: Vs. Durahan (not Dullahan)
Man, there are several ways to tackle this guy. If you're cautious and stick to short combos you can run through him during his windup and get some free hits on his back. Or you can hit him in the head, which is his weak point, and do enough damage to just trade blows with him. Towards the end I try using Quick Move which looks like it'll give you enough speed to hit him in the head and still avoid counterattack. Or, you know, just Aqua Tornado him a bunch. That always works.


I'm not sure why it's called Splash when there's not much splashing? It looks like a barrage of blue/purple space fighters.


Anyway, Dinah gets another new spell after we finish smacking Durahan-Not-Dullahan down. I don't know if I've ever used this before... I assume it warps you out of a dungeon. I'll probably end up using it sometime during this LP, if only after a material-farming session or something.


Durahan-Not-Dullahan also drops a Boost Motor! We would have gotten one of these if we'd broken Orin's drill, but since we get one anyway it's really not worth it.


Huh? She looks familiar.


Ok, I think you're going to have to explain that one. She couldn't pay the rent, got evicted, and you moved in? Oh, I bet she got foreclosed! It happened to a lot of people, with all those subprime mortgages running around.


Sure, a lover. I'll believe it when I see some kissing. And I've learned something about this game: nobody kisses anyone, ever, no matter what.

Aww man, once again the hero clears the path for the bad guys. Now she's going to snatch the Summonite Gem out from under our...


...noses?


Wow, Passeau, you suck at this villian thing.


Told you already: foreclosure. Those banks are merciless!


Yeah, before some competent bad guy comes along and steals it.


And you'll just sit around, sipping tea and playing Game Boy?

*poof*


See, that's better.


And she finds it right away! Angel-Dinah's the best!


And it's red like fire this time.


Awesome, now we can teleport anywhere we want! First stop: Lynn's Bedroom!

Oh boy, here we go again.


Yeah, good luck with that.


But Devil-Dinah refuses to stand for that.


Man, if the night scenes with Dinah and Lynn aren't hilarious, I will be sorely disappointed.


Anyway, we head back to town and get another Boost Motor from the ex-lumberjack.


And new materials mean new weapons! The Swift set have a somewhat tech flair to them.
Gale Strike is the special move that Orin uses. As a youtube commenter put it, Drilldoken! But at 20 DUR per use it's not really worth it.

Fig. 1: Drilldoken


What I decide to do is make the Swift Sword and then use a Gale Ore to upgrade it, making it wind-elemental. Turns out pretty well, except against all these wind-elemental critters in the Forgotten Woods.


Anyway, plot ho! No more interruptions! We're gonna teleport to the Daemon Edge and seal Goura tonight.


See, Aera is all business.


Oh man this is so exciting!





:|





I've got swords, and pluck! That's all the preparation we need!


Oh yeah, we gotta ask about her foreclosure.


And right off the bat we unlock the ability to visit Nina at night.

Well, not just like her. For one, no rings and bubbles. For two, she wears clothes. Also, she doesn't use the ground as a door.


Well you need to steal it back before squatter's rights go into effect.


So let this be a lesson to everyone: don't sleep in the woods!


Have you tried science instead? Understanding the world through magic seems pretty weird. Discovering laws of nature my warping reality sounds like performing brain surgery with explosives; you'll just end up more confused than ever.


I'm going to guess she got lost.


It probably should have been a big red flag when she took a boat to a place she wasn't supposed to be going to, but I guess she's just that bad.


Maybe you should just stay put from now on.

So Nina got foreclosed, and Dinah had to find a roommate.


Man, that's a pretty dick thing to do.


Like sweet, sweet makeouts with Ryouga (oh who am I kidding?)


She just wants to get into Ryouga's pants.


Just like he would have told you if he were a summoned creature, right?


Would it count as kidnapping if the body belongs to one of the kidnappers? It's more like, recovering stolen property.


As a JRPG protagonist, Aera uses Tenkai Star-brand spirit polish to keep her spirit glowing brightly!


Like kissing?


Alright, add another subquest to the list. I'm sure we'll get around to it eventually.

Unlike Aera, Dinah uses off-brand spirit polish. If you need to make a lot of friends, trust Tenkai Star!


She didn't really take any more active a role than any other day. Angel-Dinah did, but Devil-Dinah was just gonna sit on her ass and snark at us.


On our way out of the cave (come to think of it, I could have used Escape), Aera levels up and finds another Aqua Ore.


What a persistent fever. Just keep stuffing him full of that weed, it's gotta go away eventually right?


Oh, well, that's entirely different isn't it? All our medical science, useless!


Great, so we don't even have to go out of our for this? We can just keep doing what we keep getting distracted fromwe were doing anyway?


This is where she would have confessed that she wouldn't kiss Rocky because she's in love with Aera, but chickened out in front of the crowd. Return of the lesbian harem!

I love how nonchalant she is about this.


Dang, that list is getting long.

Next 6 updates: Kissing! Lots of it! Every night! With everyone! (Sorry, that's a lie.)

Ahh, video game economics.

A recap is probably not necessary at this stage, I don't think.


It's always about you, isn't it Dinah? What about my needs?


Aera's used to it now, look how unflappable she is.


Angel-Dinah wants her share of the credit, too.


"Whatever your needs..."


Oh Dinah, when will finally accept the mounting sexual tension?


...And then they kissed! Really, I swear! Well, okay, maybe not.

Aera decides next to see if she can't find out what Tatiana wanted to say earlier.


Well, let that be a lesson to you on the efficacy of prayer.


Right! It's all Dinah's fault.


Yeah, Aera's just too thin-skinned. It's not your fault she's going out of her way to blame herself for everything that goes wrong.


But I guess as long as it keeps her focused on making things right, we can't really complain, can we?


You can stop whining, and just trust that Aera will totally kick ass?


D'aawww... That's so sappy!


And thus did Tatiana get stuck with the role of mood-setter. Now Aera has to manage her mood or everybody gets all mopey and shit. So who wants to remind her that she cruelly broke Rocky's heart earlier today?

And then they kissed! (Lol no.)

Back when I was having my playthrough, and being annoyed with myself for saving so I could watch every single end-of-day scene, I frequently wondered if there was anyone out there that looked forward to the Tatiana scenes more then anyone else. Mainly because I knew I didn't. She just had no appeal for me, though there was nothing wrong with her.

Yeah, poor Tatiana. In some other game she might have had a chance to shine, but there's really no way she can compete with the likes of Dinah, Gabriel, and Lynn. Unless you really like little sisters. *shrug*



So speaking of more interesting characters, let's see how DOGGIE <3's doing.


Feeling lonely! Remember, he's a pack animal. Pack animal-type humanoid summon creature. Whatever.


Whoa, that got heavy. But really, after hearing something like this, how could you not come to the conclusion that summoners are a bunch of dicks? They don't have a good way to send the creatures they summon back home. That's bad enough for those summon creatures who never get to see their homes again, but all these stray summons just start accumulating in this world, forcing travellers into random battles and probably wreaking havoc on whatever ecosystem they end up in.

(Did Sugar get returned home somehow between the time she was Shintetsu's Guardian Beast and meeting Pratty? I wonder...)


Alright, time to lighten up the mood!


Right! Use the power of Blind Optimism, the strongest force in any JRPG!


And then Aera closed her eyes and leaned forward, but Gabriel doesn't take the hint. Sigh.

Okay I made that last part up. So sue me.

I think DOGGIE <3 is, like, the opposite of whatever fetish his people have instead of being furries. Like, skinnies. That's what he's not. Aera, he's not that into you. Let's go find Lynn.

Crap, she's still not at home.

Just taking a stalk, more like!


Well, everyone's got their very own special place. Except Dinah, who had to steal hers from Aera.


Again with the compulsive self-blaming? Do we need to get this girl a therapist?


And now Aera gets to be the little sister, and gets a taste of her own medicine from the Tatiana visit.


Or... not. He's kind of a dick.


Wow man, harsh. Siblings, huh?


And the game has to remind us of our objective for tomorrow, because it thinks we forgot or something?


Robot fetish confirmed?


Don't worry, Bruno's not going to let her touch his complex, sophisticated body. I wonder if that's like dirty talk to him.

And then they didn't kiss, because Orin's just not into fleshbags. Oh well. Maybe if she lets him make her a techy-looking helmet...?

I can't believe I never said that to one of my sisters.

Let's move right along!


After the verbal abuse from her brother, Aera needs a friendly shoulder to cry on.


(Tenkai Star brand! ○✗∆□☆'s favorite!)


Sticks and stones may break her bones, but Orin's words upset her.


Holy mackerel, he's a pirate too? Sweet!


Believe it or not! I'm so, so sorry.


She's... kind of a ditz, isn't she?


Okay! No mentions of the teleporter or Daemon Edges, that's weird. How are we supposed to remember what we're supposed to do tomorrow unless they remind us every five minutes?

Oh, and then Aera spent the rest of the night making out with Borgrim, because she just can't resist pirate talk. Oh, you don't believe me? Yeah, I didn't think you would.

And now, what you've all been waiting for!


What's up is that she hasn't seen any action all night! What's it take to get romance around here?


Arrgh not this again.


You mean, blame the guy who's fault it actually is? That's crazy! You're crazy!


Oh yeah, we still don't know what he stands to gain from having Goura kill everyone, do we?


Ah, thanks for reminding us what we need to do tomorrow! I'd almost forgotten!


Now what was it that people do to show their appreciation?


Oh yes!


Do it. Do iiit! Do iiiiiitttt....


Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get over it quickly. Now move a little closer....

Huh? Fade to black? But... but... it was just about to get good!

Okay, you know what? They totally went back to Lynn's house and made sweet sweet love all night long. You have no proof that's not what they did! You didn't see it not happen! LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

And that is where fanfics come from. FOR MACHINES.

Hmm, what should I do tonight? Go see my schizophrenic angel/demon servant? Go see the body-snatched meganeko ghost and her pet pirate mecha? The dog-boy with a pet robot? Or the sister of my best-friend/rival that's determined to create yuri fantasies with me? This game.... This game..!

Brick, I want to give away as little as possible, but there will come a time when you need Lynn's help, and when it comes, please don't forget little Tatianna.

Yes, yes, we only heard this a hundred times last night.


Don't sound so thrilled!


And here's where we stand status-wise. Note that Dinah got a second casting of Splash recently. I loaded Enchant Aqua up because I put wind element on my sword, so if I run into any wind-resistant foes, I can just cast that.


And while I'm digging around in the menu I come to the Options menu and holy crap I can turn autorun on. So I do.


But we still can't outrun the morning cutscene.


What can I say? The dude is in love.


He's going to have some alone time with his favorite mechanoid! No fleshies allowed! Especially no girls, with their cooties.


Or maybe that.


A compelling argument from Tatiana. Your rebuttal, Orin?



Edit: Holy crap, 1000th post!

Honestly I don't really see her being very useful in either case. If she stays, Blaire still won't get any better. If she comes with us, well, Aera is just gonna do all the work anyway. And I still don't have any idea what Orin's planning to do, besides stare longingly at Bruno.


Well sure, I guess we could ask the concerned party.


Actually I don't think you'll break the curse by leaving bed, either. You're just kinda stuck with it until Aera bails you out.


Great! So we'll just leave you here for now, and pick you up off the floor when we get back.


We'll see how you feel when we come back to find him half-dead on the floor.


"I've been stalking him the whole time!"


Everybody's worried about Blaire! (Except me. And Dinah.)


Alright, so Lynn will stay here and look after Blaire while Tatiana and Orin come along with Aera and... play cards or something. Maybe act as Aera's cheerleaders.


And who wouldn't be? Rawr.

No no no, Tatiana. You need to add the sound effect. Wa-kssh!


The cutscene continues for a little bit, but we already hit the good parts so let's just skip ahead. (Seriously it takes them like 10 minutes to disperse)


Once free from the clutches of the dreaded cutscene, it's time to do all our sidequestin'. Nothing beats free, even if we probably won't ever use one of these.


The materials salesman isn't hiding in a house this time, so it's kind of hard to miss this Fulgur Horn. Bought!


And he gives us some nice advice.


But we've got other things to do around town first. First we hit the Energizer BunnyRampage Rabbit and see if my new strategy works even when we're at our weakest.


Yup! Splash takes long enough to cast that he landed a couple hits on me, but switching back to Aqua Tornado finishes him in no time.


Whoa! Hey, nice. Med Kits work exactly like they did in 1, restoring all your HP and activating automatically if you lose all your HP.


Well, we may actually use that sometime, if we're wandering around a dungeon long enough.


Rocky and Kara are actually in town today, playing hide and seek with Kid Who Loses His Thing Everyday and Girl Who Hangs Out With Kid Who Loses His Thing Everyday.

And Kid Who Loses His Thing Everyday lost his thing today. How's that for a shocker?


And in return he gives us the free sample he got at the shop, apparently.


There's this lady who wants to make curry but doesn't have any spices.


Also, her husband is a real winner.


If you follow the salesman's advice and head to the Water Fortress, you find... another salesman! Singing about curry, of all things.


He wants to spread the curry gospel far and wide, and gives us spices! No, Pratty, not "spiceeees."


Also, all his summon creature friends sell stuff.


Stuff you can easily find by cutting grass or smashing stumps. None of it is worth anything, except....


Gourmet Clams! These are the best fishing bait. Unfortunately, we have to wait before we can buy any. I'm pretty sure they unlock tomorrow, because that's when we'll be able to start finding them.


While we're in the area, I pop back into the Howling Caverns and farm up a Heavy Metal Ore...

So I can make an Iron Ring....

Which I can combine with the Red Ring currently available from the store, to make a Hematite Ring. Because I've been wearing that weak-ass first bracelet for days and it's time for an upgrade.


Lastly, we can come to the Fire Fortress and "buy a forging tip." This is another daily quest where we pay money (600 boam in this case) and he teaches us what a certain item does when you use it to upgrade a weapon. This time he teaches us that Leafwyrm Thorns add Paralysis Attack to a weapon. We already knew that! But then he gives you all the materials he talks about. So, hey, another Leafwyrm Thorn!