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Make a Memory: Let's Play Wild Arms 3

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
And there is strong evidence over the course of this chapter that Maya should have been the "hero" of Wild Arms 3...

This Let's Play began on March 29, 2022. It is now 2023, and today is March 28, Calculation Day. If plans work out as calculated, you'll always run into calculation mistakes later on. That's why I was trying not to be too happy too early, but suppressing my own emotions stressed me out. I guess that was another miscalculation of mine.

Chapter 52: Love can Bloom Even on the Battlefield

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
We explored an ancient, fallen (in more ways than one) city, but it was missing its all-important power source. There are some rumors that this gem might be at a nearby tower, but there are also rumors we may run into a certain infamous family there…

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So let’s head on in to Caging Tower.

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The first thing you’ll notice is that treasure is around.

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But we can’t get to it. Boo. Looks like this will be another “ruin” that lives up to that description.

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At least there is a way forward before the collapsed balcony.

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Pretty boring dungeon so far…

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Ah! Here we go!
According to the local lore, Caging Tower is an ancient facility designed to capture monsters. And how do you catch ‘em all? With a pokéball! “Bubbles” appear in various rooms across Caging Tower, and they will capture your party if you make contact. You either must avoid the bubbles entirely, or, if you are captured, “wiggle” the controller until you are released. If you fail to wiggle properly, there is a penalty that will be addressed soon enough.

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So the bubbles fade in and out of sight, and all you really have to do is be careful about not running right into them. Easy peasy.

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This is the… bubble generator?

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Blow it up.

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Now the bubbles are gone, and the door is open. Get ready to do this another ten times.

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The following hallway looks like the corridor from a couple screenshots back, but this one includes a treasure alcove.

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Funny how there was only ever one dungeon where Maya had “already” opened all the treasure chests, and that has never happened again. Maybe these are gifts for Virginia?

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Whatever, moving on.

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Here is the cage room. If you fail to wiggle out of a bubble, you will be teleported to this area.

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If you get captured in the previous bubble room, this is kind of a shortcut forward (though you do miss the treasure room). If you get bubbled in any future areas, it is a setback to have to “restart” from this floor. Note that if you are never captured (possibly due to a bubble-fear caused by listening to the seminal Trouble by Shampoo repeatedly when excited about the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers movie), this room is very confusing.

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Did I mention there were monsters in this monster-caging tower?

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These Nybbas things have… Uh… I am not comfortable with their appendages.

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I genuinely have no idea what they were going for here. Tusked wizard gremlin?

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They are definitely fond of the typical, generic monster spells.

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May as well blast them with light magic.

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They drop an accessory that can nullify the glass status effect. Probably something around this dungeon that can turn you to glass…

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Other monsters include these quadrupeds from the previous dungeon…

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And Gorg.

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Gorg wants you to hold still.

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Does only one head have the paralysis venom?

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Put ‘em on ice.

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It would be cool if the tower intended to capture monsters had all sorts of monsters from across the game, but, nope, mostly just those three.

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Now for more bubble hijinks.

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These jump plates will always take you to exactly one other spot on the floor. You cannot control your “super jumps” to access more interesting locations.

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So make your way over these holes to find your way forward. Note that even though this is established as a proper vertical tower, falling down a hole will only set you back to the entrance of the room, and not drop you to a lower floor.

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There. That’ll bobble your bubbles.

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Ho-hum, more treasure.

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AP Ammo confers the DEF Null ability, which has a chance of negating the enemy’s defense stat. This would be super useful in battles with monsters that have insane defense (like Power Trask from the last update), but it is only a chance of negating defense. Maybe you have better luck than I do, but I am not going to waste skill points on a chance when those points can go to more guaranteed abilities like ATT Plus or (eventual) Finest Arts.

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So let’s just get out of here.

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Maya? Seriously? Have you ever seen another Drifter on this planet? Janus doesn’t count. He’s dead now.

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Incidentally, if you don’t count the brunch dates that are obviously happening between scenes, we have not seen Maya and her family since that cave we blew up way back in Chapter 2. Since the last time these two gangs met, our side saved the world from the Prophets, met an unstoppable demon, conquered a dragon, opened a new shipping channel, and recruited the high gods of the planet. Alfred hasn’t even changed his vest.

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She has literally already told you that before.

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Shrug.

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“Cool. Do they have cash?”

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There is strong evidence that Maya is the only person on Filgaia that truly understands the joys of sarcasm.

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“Saving the world! Important! Are you getting this?”

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… Maybe?

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Virginia is elated. Jet is embarrassed for both of them.

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Yeah, you knew this was coming.

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Family Fight 4: The Final Fight Forever

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I love that this conversation continues into battle mode. You have one last chance to negotiate with your girlfriend, Virginia!

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She’s not wrong. If Maya gets and holds onto the Teardrop, the bad guys’ plan is equally foiled.

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Virginia has doubts, though.

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Consider it foreplay.

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We’ve seen this setup before. Note that while this is the fourth time we’ve had this fight, this is only the second time we fought Maya in her “default” Calamity form. The previous two battles saw Maya costumed-up.

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However, this battle predominantly does not work like the first Maya fight at all. Maya actually does nothing, and, as long as her comrades are still kicking, they initiate a triple tech that targets all characters for… let’s say “general damage”. If you are not leveled up, this move will wreck your side. If you have completed a few of the optional sidequests available at this point in the game, though, it is not much of a hit.

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So your first priority is taking out anybody, which will stop the triple tech onslaught. Alfred has the lowest HP, Todd has the same "light his hair on fire” poison problem, and Shady the Not-Cat has an elemental weakness to water you can exploit. You can’t really choose wrong on who you want to take down, just make sure you focus on one opponent, as there is no benefit to spreading the damage around.

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Once you drown one of these losers, they will go back to their usual, separate attacks that deal tremendously less damage. Until you do that, you will suffer every round.

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Todd can still heal his teammates, so maybe he should take precedence.

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Maya does nothing while the triple tech is a possibility, but once one teammate is down, she’ll join the fun. Her perilous gatling ability is no longer only a desperation move, so keep everyone’s HP up.

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Alfred never, ever gets more than one move despite appearing in four different battles across the game.

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Calamity Jane is Maya’s “upgraded” super move. It does serious damage, and can technically be used any time after the triple tech is down, so it could be used when two of her teammates are already wrecking your HP.

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The only upside is that it is a single-target ability, so at least your whole team won’t be dead from a bazooka to the face.

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If you have reached this point at low levels, and defeated one Schrodinger, this is basically a RNG race. Maya has equal odds on using her simple handgun as her entire arsenal, so hope for the best.

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And don’t forget to shoot back.

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See? Foreplay.

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Oh! Oh! I hope she turns into, like, a giant robot this time.

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Maybe a superhero?

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Nope, Virginia is calling it.

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“We are bringing up the rewards screen right now and you are going to think about what you have done!”

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“I came here because a random NPC mentioned the place and we didn’t really have anywhere else to go!”

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Weird date night?

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Maya knows Virginia’s song.

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See? They know each other well at this point.

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And just like an old married couple, they always have the same fights.

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I feel like Maya’s “depending on how you look at it” is some kind of progress.

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Huh. Guess the battle did continue.

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Oh snap!

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Look, I’m not going to claim to have any sort of gaydar, so this wasn’t really something I noticed on my initial playthrough back when I was in college. But seriously? How did I not notice the “just kiss already” staging that happens every five seconds when these two are together on screen?

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Show this screenshot to anyone! Tell me what they think is happening! I cannot be imagining this!

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I’m not just isolating screenshots here! The camera lingering is 100% intentional.

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You don’t see Virginia pulling this crap with -any male character in the game- (Which, side note, is practically every character other than Melody…)

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And Maya finally relents and allows herself to be into it.

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There.

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The romantic arc of Wild Arms 3 has reached its conclusion. That was sex. You just watched sex.

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“I don’t want to kiss in front of the boys.”

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“So, are we one big party, or…?”

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Guess we can just pretend they are helping us climb this tower in some way.

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May as well hit this big switch with the weight of an 8-person gang.

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Sweet. Elevator works now.

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There are only three stops. We are currently on the fifth floor, and that’s the highest location for elevators.

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Vroom vroom.

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The first floor elevator stop puts us on the other side of the collapsed bridge, so now we can reach that treasure we saw at the entrance. Our first Mega Berry is going back to the garden as soon as we leave, and…

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The Black Pass is one of the most important “random” treasures you will ever find. You will see why once we get out of this cage.

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But for now, we’ll see that the third floor is the “cage room”, so that will be useful if we ever get bubble-captured (we won’t).

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And that’s where we are going to take a break for this week. We still have about half of a tower left, and you know things are always interesting when Maya is around…

Next time on Wild Arms: Maya is no longer around.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
It's a brand new day! And that day is April 4, Vigor Day. What is vigor? Vigor is... I've gained strength! ...But it was just my imagination!! That is all! As the Drifter defeated the evil alien, she shouted those very words. Today is the day that battle was fought.

Chapter 53: Caged Hearts

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
Virginia and Maya had a reconciliation of sorts while their emotional support boys stood around picking their collective noses. Now everyone is going to work together to scale this Caging Tower and claim the Teardrop.

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So let’s get to it!

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We are picking back up immediately after the battle with Maya. It's balls.

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These spheres seem to “move” faster than their predecessors further down in the tower. They also contract around your character faster, so wiggle for your life if you run into one.

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Other than that, they’re still stationary, and it is just a matter of finding a route where you don’t smack right into one.

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There is not a jump plate in this room, but Clive’s grappling hook will help us get where we need to be.

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Mr. Winslett?
Tear down this bubble generator.

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And grab some cash from the other end of the room. There is no disadvantage to exploring these areas fully after the bubbles are destroyed.

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Still might be some booby traps left, though.

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Oh boy. The ability for one character to summon one extra time. Really going to use that a lot.

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So much tower…

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Next bubble room. These spheres are presumably even worse than the red ones, but the wider platforms here make it less likely that you will run into one.

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Once again, jump plates only send you to predetermined landing spots, so here you basically have to guess if a jump will shoot you where you actually want to go.

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We have an airship-dragon, and you are giving us treasure that calls our horses? Lombardia is probably outside eating them as we speak!

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Weeeeee.

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Our greatest threat, bubbles, is defeated.

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A useful find.

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Exits are also useful.

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Loving the repetition of this dungeon. Absolutely love it.

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Are we done yet?

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A Chaos Emerald! I guess we are!

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Looks a lot more… not-blue than I expected.

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"Maya, we're in public."

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If you prick Maya, she bleeds cool.

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So we’re sending in the flying cat.

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Come on, Tails, finish that special stage.

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And it is a trap. In Caging Tower, no less!

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Claustrophobic kitty.

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It's always such a cute time in a relationship when you learn about the quirks of your significant other's pets.

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The spirit of the question…

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Yep, looks like we’ve been had.

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Probably something started by the Claiborne Tourism Commission.

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The fact that a Schrödinger ancestor used to trap Shady the “cat” in a box and expose him to poison is low key my favorite joke in this game. It is a dark joke, but a great one all the same.

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This whole scene/dungeon is very reminiscent of a bit from Wild Arms (1) wherein our heroes scale “Cage Tower”, wind up in a trap like Shady here, and then “Calamity” Jane Maxwell (no relation), a woman very similar to Maya, shows up and shoots down the barrier generators. If you played Wild Arms, you may have expected such an outcome from this Caging Tower.

Incidentally, this creates an amusing meta situation wherein an experienced Wild Arms veteran player will have the same reaction/intuition as experienced Drifter veteran Maya.

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Poor kitty.

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Maya is broken up about this.

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“Unlike me, who doesn’t ever know anything?”

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Gotta check out those leads.

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Maya knows the real score, though.

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You must eliminate all those quantum possibilities.

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Also the Schrödinger way.

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I choose to believe the family here is stage whispering, and our team can hear everything they’re saying.

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“And can we hang out there, too? Get a whole big adventure party going?”

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But!

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It was a trap, and not a trap for any old Drifter…

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It’s the goon squad!

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And they’re making their own damn demon barrier.

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So this is where things deviate from the events of Wild Arms.

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The goal was to capture Virginia, but Maya will do if she’s got the information they need.

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Of course, it will be three against seven if these Prophets try anything.

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Dammit!

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Were you three always this sadistic? Wait, yeah, we know they were…

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Virginia is not going to put her damsel in danger.

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And please shout it while we are within audible range.

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Fair enough.

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You just found out what was happening, like, ten seconds ago! You expected nothing!

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And away the Prophets and Maya go.

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Could everyone please stop standing on the trap platform…

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Alfred has got confusion status!

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Todd to the rescue.

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Maya is gone, and now Alfred has to lead the cat and the butler.

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Shortly after my favorite joke in the game, my favorite one-off animation in the game.

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“He’s going to burn this mother down.”

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He’s a pyromaniac? Sure.

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With the healing skills in battle and the clinical explanations… is Todd a doctor?

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Alfred and Shane should hang out.

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Now let’s get down to business.

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… Do the shades help?

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Shady offers assistance in his own Garfieldian way.

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Directions to the next dungeon! Thanks, math!

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“Sure. Our own plot kind of dovetailed with yours anyway.”

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“Ain’t no demons that are weirdly obsessed with my mom gonna steal my girlfriend!”

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Yeah! Let’s save that woman that was shooting at us last update!

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“Yes, Todd, it’s because of the sex. It is amazing.”

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You didn’t miss any dialogue here: it’s just a clunky way of calling back to their heart-to-heart from earlier in the tower.

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“Where would we even find our own dragon to get there?”

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So! Obviously we have to go rescue Maya now at some nebulous location “far southeast of here”.

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Unfortunately, we don’t have directions that are better than that. Let’s check in at that nearby town where rumors almost got us killed.

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Here is the man you must talk to. Seriously, if you don’t talk to this random NPC, the next dungeon will not activate.

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Dessinsey claims that Caging Tower has a sister dissection facility. Note the emphasis on "only accessible by air".

On a sidenote: I would really like to meet the people that used two whole locations for capturing and researching monsters.

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And now when we try to leave Claiborne…

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Cutscene!

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Maya is being exactly as cooperative as one would expect.

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Maybe even a little extra uncooperative.

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These two are going to get along famously.

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I don’t like the sound of that…

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Oh snap! A book!

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What could it be!?

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We’ll find out later.

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Because we have to stop at Little Twister right now.

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That last dungeon wasn’t a complete bust: we did pick up a fancy new item.

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If we scoot around the “edges” of the lawless town of Little Twister…

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We will find this nondescript shack.

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And while we saw this shack and its mysterious locked door before, now we can use our recently acquired Black Pass to open the way forward.

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And welcome to the Black Market!

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The Black Market is a recurring Wild Arms tradition. If you need to buy Black Market goods on Filgaia, this where to look!

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But… not too much of a selection.

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First of all, you will notice an EX File Key is on the menu. Like all of the EX File Keys, this is a reward for “beating” some aspect of the game. In this case, you will be able to purchase this EX File Key if you have all the money in the world. This is vaguely impossible. We can reduce that sticker shock with an upcoming item, though. Additionally, in a normal game, the EX File Key, Warp Stars, and Dragon Fossils are the only default items on the menu.

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But the real trick to the Black Market is selling. If you sell an accessory…

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It will be added to the Black Market inventory at an exorbitant price. This is… kinda good?

Here are the exact mechanics of the Black Market: if you sell any status/element-based accessory, it will be available for purchase here. This is important, as accessories in Wild Arms 3 are “used up” when you equip them, and many accessories only appear singularly in guaranteed quantities. However, you have four party members, and, while most accessory skills appear on at least one Guardian, you then would need three total of any given accessory to 100% protect your party. With this in mind, you can either hope for the best with enemy drops, or save one instance of an accessory for selling, pawn it, and then purchase the three you need. Buying accessories from the Black Market is ideal if you want to avoid dealing with the RNG, but you can also see how just an elemental ring has 100 times markup…

Note that many accessories with unique abilities (like Counter, Attack Plus, Finest Arts) do not enter the sale list if you sell them. There is never an indicator if a particular accessory will join the Black Market inventory, so maybe save and reset if you sell off something valuable.

In general, my recommendation is to hit the Black Market hard at the end of the game when you are considering the final challenges/super bosses. For an easy example, the big boss of the pit, Ragu o Ragala, all but requires a full set of Fire Rings, and it is entirely possible you will have “accidentally” acquired three anyway by the time you are getting to roll the credits. Or maybe you weren’t lucky, so you should return here, sell one fire ring, and then stock up before entering the Abyss. This is true of a few items (Holy Grail’s protection against instant death is similarly indispensable in the arena and the abyss), but all those situations are what could be considered optional and “post-game”. So see where you are when you reach that point, and take it from there.

Also: any healing plants you have maxed out at Florina’s Garden are available for instant purchase here. Already, we have successfully cultivated Heal Berries, Potion Berries, and Revive Fruits during this playthrough. In general, these prices aren’t too crazy for items this useful, but if they are “instant breeds” at the garden, you are better off saving your dough and cultivating some for free. Still, this is the only place in the game where there is even the possibility of buying “potions”, so that is intriguing for a classic RPG.

And worth remembering: there are not actually that many opportunities to spend your dough in Wild Arms 3. Spending to upgrade your ARMs is essential, but some of your characters (Virginia, Gallows) might barely be using their weapons anyway at this point. Beyond that, you have the ability to purchase status restoring items, the Black Market, and… that’s it. So saving up for that EX File Key is noble an’ all, but don’t worry too much if you want to blow your savings on blocking Confusion forever.

Though don’t purchase anything right now. Wait until after the next update for that.

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Also, you earn a trophy on the Playstation 4/5 version if you buy and sell here. Woo achievements.

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Okay! Shady business done, we’re back to the plot.

This next location is the first area in the plot-mandated portion of the game that requires your airship. So if you have ignored all the optional content at this point, Lombardia just got a whole lot less optional, and you must conquer Bal Quo Naga and claim your dragon. If you need a refresher on that portion (and how its length might interrupt the narrative here), check Official Goggle Bob Wild Arms 3 Let's Play Parts 43 & 44. Once you have a proper airship-transformer, you can access this beachless area.

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And now we’re at our next dungeon. Everybody always has a good time at a Dissection Facility!

Next time on Wild Arms: Cozying up to the family
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
The moral of all old west cowboy stories if you think about it.
The Good, The Bad, and The Stay Away from my Mom

And you should do that on this, April 11, Leather Day. There was a man fascinated with the sweet smell of boiling leather for tanning. He would boil and boil leather all day long. One day, the man realized that boiling vegetables and clams created an even better smell. I guess he never cooked food before...

Chapter 54: Outlaw In-Laws

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
Maya has been kidnapped! So Maya’s family and Virginia’s groupies are all getting together to rescue the best drifter from the worst demons.

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And we’re told they’re over here.

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I mean, we got tricked last update, but what are the odds of that happening twice in a row?

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Todd is a calming swordsman.

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I choose to believe that Tiger Jackson (star of Pac-Man Fever) speaks like this, too.

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Todd will do one (1) thing this entire dungeon.

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Tsundere kitty.

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“We flew you here!”

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Spoilers: we will not be seeing any monster guts at the Dissection Facility.
I apologize if that is the only reason you are reading.

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There are plenty of decorative (unusable) giant axes around, though.

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And treasure. Even if these are inordinately useless items, it’s still nice to find treasure.

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So the Dissection Facility is in significant disrepair. There are a number of paths where you must take the long way around some giant hole or alike.

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And there are monsters, too.

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Unlike Caging Tower, Dissection Facility kinda-sorta does some storytelling with its random encounters. All the monsters are (presumably manufactured) chimeras based on the four basic elements.

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As such, if you know their “names” you know their weaknesses. Chimera Geo here absorbs and uses Earth (Geo) attacks, but is weak to wind.

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So keep those elemental wards handy. If you really like bouncing in and out of menus, you can pump up the appropriate resistances according to your opponents. Geo is never going to use a fire attack.

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And then nail those weaknesses. It would be a really good idea to have the Luceid/Weakness ability by now.

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Chimera Fray is using a multi-hit attack. These creatures can use some very powerful spells, but their magic stats are not as terrifying as your average (or super) boss. However, if you let them wear you down over multiple battles, you will be in trouble.

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Here is a grouping of Chimera Muse (water, the Capricorn looking things) and Chimera Wing (wind, the bug). Once again, they are just the shifted-elemental versions of the beasts from the last few shots.

For trivia’s sake, note that the elemental monikers (Geo, Fray, Muse, Wing) were prominent names for the elements in previous Wild Arms games, but since Wild Arms 3 dropped the importance of “crest magic”, those designations are not as central in this adventure.

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That’s enough about random battles. Now for random puzzles!

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Clive can use his Mighty Gloves to move this block into two different advantageous positions. We’ll shove it over here to start…

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And then use Virginia’s Gale Crest to skip over the gaps…

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Treasure is our reward!

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Now back to shove that block into the more obvious bridge gap.

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Making progress.

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And now we’re on top of that chasm. Wee.

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These cells are not “used” like the bubble traps in the previous dungeon, but they do contain treasure.

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Opening a door is as easy as running straight into it. Does Filgaia not have doorknobs?

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That was worth the concussion.

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Break some crates for some goods, too.

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This door looks suspicious.

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Never mind. Todd has got it handled.

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You have probably already guessed that the “gimmick” of this dungeon is that each of Maya’s boys are going to actively help us through the area.

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“Leave this to me. The -predecessor- ...Milady's father was a great man. There is no way I can repay this debt of gratitude in a lifetime. But I swore upon Lord Schroedinger's grave, that I would do all I can to repay this debt through serving Milady and Master Alfred.

He was a strong defender of justice, who raised Milady and Master Alfred as a single parent. A very gallant man, indeed. He took a good-for-nothing man like me under his wing, and I was honored to work under him. I was unable to repay my debt of gratitude of Lord Schroedinger while he was alive, so I vowed to take it upon Milady, and Master Alfred.”
(Given this is something of a branching conversation with whether you “ask” about the key words, transcribed dialogue may come off as a little repetitive)

And this serves the purpose of further humanizing Wild Arms 3’s “goofy” squad.

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Not sure how I feel about the fact that the one confirmed person of color in Wild Arms 3 is a butler who is paying off a life debt to a blonde family. At least it’s voluntary!

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I will happily acknowledge he is freakin’ badass, though. Love the little “kick” animation there.

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You get the impression he could have bisected you at any point in one of your little battles, Virginia?

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Let’s go Zantetsuken the rest of this dungeon.

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Another masonry fail.

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Should we be saving? Amusingly enough, this dungeon simultaneously has two bosses and zero bosses.

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A small puzzle where Gallows gets to remember that Steady Doll tool.

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The way to solve this puzzle is to move between the switches while slinging your little dude.

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But you will be rewarded if you recognize that you can “ride” one of the wall columns.

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Hidden area!

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Once again I am going to lament that Wild Arms 3 doesn’t have that many “treasure” opportunities. I am happy to have another Lucky Card or Potion Berry, but until the endgame accessories start popping up in the endgame dungeons, you don’t often see an unexpected/valuable treasure for finding a hidden alcove or alike.

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Back to the lower level to make some progress.

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I know what that door means.

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Cat’s turn.

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If only we had a flying animal of some kind.

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We will get an explanation of Shady’s origins, but not an explanation for why he can fly.

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I mean, other than that he appears to have a jetpack. Jetpack: Origins is not in the cards.

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It’s worth noting that Shady was distinctly “summoned”.

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We don’t get any further explanation, but Shady is some manner of magical creature. The only “summoning” we ever see in Wild Arms 3 is when the Prophets yank a monster out of Hyades, or when we summon the Guardians. Given Shady doesn’t appear to have any sympathy for the demons, it is strongly implied here that Shady is a lesser god (guardian).

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“This dates back many generations but I was summoned by a Schroedinger and locked up in a puny, little- -box-. That's when Madam rescued me. At first, I just did as se said as I plotted my revenge for lockin' me up. But as time went by, I got hooked on madam's pace, and here I am.
Day after day, I would help 'em out with various experiments, but in the end, they sealed me inside a box for what seemed like forever. That's when -madam- rescued me.
At first, I thought about gettin' even with the Schroedinger people, but...she invited me to join in on her fun. And boy, was it ever! I've never felt so excited and free in my life!”
(Given this is something of a branching conversation with whether you “ask” about the key words, transcribed dialogue may come off as a little repetitive)
Also, confirmation that Maya’s ancestors were straight up summoning magical feline creatures is one of the first big clues that the Schroedinger bloodline has more going on than just “eccentric thieves”.

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And then Shady gets to show off his atomic fire breath.

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I hate to say it, but we must now move on from examining Virginia’s girlfriend’s cat.

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So, like the earlier area, the goal here is obviously to move the blocks into bridge positions.

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However, investigating this spot fully will reveal a secret room. Note that this is very easy to miss if you are not frequently rotating the camera.

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So we have some worthy treasure, and a monster hologram thingy in the corner.

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We’ve been doing pretty good with super bosses so far, let’s give this one a shot.

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Say hi to the eye.

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Heimdal Gazzo was the name of the Death Star that menaced the world with space lasers in Wild Arms 2. It could be a coincidence of a name, though, as it is probably some kind of bastardization of Heimdal’s Gaze. Heimdal was a Norse god who was known for lookin’ at stuff, so it works for an eye in the sky or a bundle of eyes in a dungeon.

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Heimdal Gazzo is a super boss, and is totally optional. I am attempting this battle on my “normal” playthrough mainly because that playthrough has stomped a few other bosses through ingenuity, and that “normal” party is getting pretty “extra”.

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Might have to pull back on this, though. Jet just lost like half his HP in one attack, and the rest of the party isn’t fairing much better.

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And it’s not like we can exploit any weaknesses here.

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So, first of all, Clive has ridiculous damage potential with that ATT Plus ability we earned from the well monster. That means we won’t hit the wall of not doing enough damage to ever succeed.

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And we can use Weaken to make Gallows do comparable damage, too.

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Not as good as Clive, but that is going to sting.

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Now you may have noticed that Gallows did not take any damage from HG’s earlier attack. This is because he happened to have Dark Ward equipped through his Moon medium. We are now going to use a Dark Ring to spread that barrier around. Note that I am only using one Dark Ring so I can sell the remainder at the Black Market so I can then have more Dark Rings. We’ll need them later.

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Wirginia and Jet are sacrifices while Clive and Gallows are protected to carry the day. Heimdal Gazzo only has one attack that isn’t dark-based, so as long as we don’t see that, Clive and Gallows are effectively invincible.

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Jet and Wirginia only ever healed each other during this fight so they would hopefully be alive to nab the experience at HG’s death. And that worked out!

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So Heimdal Gazzo works almost exactly like the Kraken super boss: protect against its main element attack, and you have nothing to worry about. Your reward is EXP, a whole lot of cash, and maybe the most useful super boss reward in Wild Arms 3.

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The Gold License cuts the cost of every shop and service across Filgaia. Let’s take a peak into a future outside this dungeon and see that this means that all the exorbitant prices at the Black Market… are still exorbitant, but slightly less so. We only have to spend 4,999,999 gella to earn an EX File Key now! Note that it is likely not a coincidence that the rewards for all the super bosses add up to about 3,000,000-4,000,000 gella. Don’t forget to use those Gella Cards!

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And I want to emphasize that this impacts the cost of “services”, too. Here is the cost of upgrading Clive’s all-important ARM before a Gold Card…

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And here we are after the Gold Card. For this reason, I do not recommend upgrading your ARMs too much before conquering this super boss. This is free real estate, Jim.

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Okay, back to the present of the dungeon. Heimmy is gone forever, and we can make a bridge at our leisure.

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Zoom.

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Ah, here’s a Gella Card or two.

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More doors, less treasures.

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Not much to this area.

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This room looks like a boss arena…

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But maybe we missed the party?

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Duplicator door over here.

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And an encounter the minute we enter the room.

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Here is optional boss number two.

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Don’t talk to me or my son ever again.

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I have to assume that Sadas and Sadas Jr. were intended to be the mandatory bosses of this dungeon, but they got downgraded to “guarding treasure” because they were too damn goofy.

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These guys are optional bosses, but they are not super boss level in any way. Their stats (and rewards) are comparable to average bosses from this point in the game.

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Papa has every elemental weakness under the sun, too.

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So here is how this works: Sadas Jr. doesn’t do a thing. He is a fancy pants college boy, and he spends all his time thinking.

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Sadas, however, will protect Sadas Jr. from all physical attacks, and Sadas has maximum defense parameters. In other words, you cannot do a flake of physical damage while Sadas is around.

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But Sadas won’t be around very long, because he kamikazes and damages your party significantly. Or… uh… “significantly” if your party isn’t generally over-leveled.

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But when Sadas is out of the way, Sadas Jr. is completely vulnerable.

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… And that’s that. Sadas Jr. literally died in one hit. Under less advantageous circumstances, Sadas Jr. will revive Sadas at the top of every round, so the “block, kamikaze” pattern will repeat indefinitely. However, given Clive is always slow enough to attack after Sadas is gone, it is unlikely you will miss the “trick” that Sadas is only an effective guard while he’s alive.

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There is a nugget of an interesting idea in there, but I can see why Sadas was downgraded to “silly optional boss”. And, appropriately enough, your reward here is “useful”, but not all that rewarding.

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Okay, back to the main room. Something happened here.

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(Flashback!)

Though a quick, omniscient look back at the previous update will reveal that this was not where Maya was hogtied. That floor was different.

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But there is evidence Maya was here at some point…

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Yeah, no duh. Virginia and Maya are the only two people on this planet we have ever seen with books.

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She’s trying to tell us, “Hey, I dropped my book.”

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This room also contains a door.

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Preaching to the choir, Alfred.

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Jet is still picking her bullets out of his teeth…

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Protip: don’t conflate your daddy issues with your relationship issues.

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Also, don’t immediately forgive your significant other for everything with flimsy excuses. You’ll be happier in the long run. This is particularly true when your S.O. has a bazooka.

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The brother approves! This relationship is go!

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“Befriend”. Just drop the “frien” and you’re right.

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There is not a heterosexual explanation for this reaction.

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And a delightful little explosion feint.

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Alfred does not enjoy the works of Michael Bay.

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So we can move forward, but first we can check our inventory for Maya’s recently acquired book.

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Some Sierra Adventure Game nonsense going on here…

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It’s a surprise tool that will help us later.

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Okay, now we can move on.

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And we’ve got… a computer room?

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Movie room?

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Let’s see if we can get something going here.

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Tappa tappa.

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Incoming message from Rob64.

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Or… that guy again.

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Siegfried can teleport wherever the hell he wants… but he felt like just chilling and teleconferencing today.

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Oh yeah, the Schroedingers haven’t had the pleasure of meeting this demon.

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I cannot imagine Siegfried being voiced by anyone but David Kaye doing his same Beast Wars Megatron voice.

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“Gimme back my girlfriend!”

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“Sure, whatever. Gimme my magical jewel.”

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He is an ancient demon that is attempting to destroy and/or conquer the world. What did you expect?

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Virginia explains they don’t even have the Teardrop, Siegfried responds that it is no big.

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Alfred gets assertive when he wants to be.

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Hey! We’ve already been to that dungeon!

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Maya ain’t no rat!

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“Are there books about my girlfriend. Can… can I borrow them?”

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“She uses a book as a memory storage unit, and converts and installs the internal data for her own use. Her spiritual strength exceeds those of demons, generating an extreme illusion through this internal data. A form of autosuggestion...or powerful autohypnosis gives her the ability to transform herself. These are the details of Maya Schroedinger's supernatural powers. Intriguing, is it not?”

So the scientific explanation for Maya’s magic ability is some thinly veiled technobabble. The important bit is that Siegfried admits that Maya has “spiritual strength that exceeds demons”. This is the other “clue” this update that Maya’s bloodline has some neat stuff going on.

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I like the idea of Siegfried exposing Maya to a pile of different books, and testing to see if she is still an uncooperative captive with every transformation.

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I love this.

Well, okay, I also hate this, but…

From a character perspective, I hate that this is happening. This is Maya being tortured. She wants to be her normal Disaster Girl persona, but Siegfried is forcing a personality on her for her own ends. This is her “honest self”, and her honest self appears to be “less” than the Maya we all know and have been shot by. Maya has been captured and tortured by the enemy, and that is terrible.

But from a writing perspective? Damn do I love this. This is a T for Teen game with mature concepts like environmentalism, generational trauma, death, and (on the comical side of “mature”) at least one hard-drinking wannabe womanizer. Point is that if the writers of Wild Arms wanted to go full hog on a “typical” torture sequence, they could have tormented Maya with spears and magic alike. They could have gone all-in on a much more explicit rape metaphor with never-not-creepy Leehalt, or let Melody have a Joker moment or two with her “no one is allowed to be more beautiful than me” fixation. There are a lot of directions this could have gone, but the literal demons only threw the book at her (heh). This is the most Disney-ass interrogation I have ever seen!

But it works! It works on so many levels! The bad guys did their research, and used Maya’s own powers against her. The Maya we know would never cooperate, but “her honest self” would, because she must follow the rules of her various forms. Magical Girl Maya must use magic instead of ARMs, Honest Self Maya must tell the truth. And it works wonderfully to make the audience (and Virginia!) angry at these demons, because we all know who Maya wants to be, who Maya has made herself, and this is stripping out her chosen identity. No blood must be spilled, no typical woman-suffering tropes need to be employed, just a book, and the bad guys get what they want. And we get to be angry.

And, yeah, it feels almost perfunctory to note the trans/queer metaphor here. But I’ll just remind everyone that Wild Arms 2 gave us “I no longer consider myself a woman” Kanon…

So anyway, kudos to Wild Arms 3 for this brilliant bit of “torture” that works on multiple levels.

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Fugging jerk.

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Virginia’s disbelief as Maya’s “honest self” is… honest.

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“Girlfriend has a secret plain side… that’s… kinda… Hmmm… I can work with this… Okay! Let’s rescue Maya!”

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We don’t have to find a dungeon for once! We already know where to go!

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Unlike the one that got us into this mess…

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“Princess is in another castle. Time to go!”

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“Smell ya later!”

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“So are you going to fly out of here, or…?”

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That’s it for that dungeon. No real boss, just more plot. We’ll have mandatory bosses aplenty soon enough…

Next time on Wild Arms: The worst reunion ever.
 

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
It's a great twist that they brought back Maya's (underutilized) silly character gimmick as a plot point.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
This is one plot point I remember quite well and I do think it's a neat way to take an otherwise silly aside and make it vital to the story.

But it is pretty terrible for Maya, yes. I mean, look at that outfit! No version of the Maya we know would ever dress so drab!
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Today is April 18, Filgaia Day. Some extreme people holler, 'Be kind to Filgaia!' But I prefer a more restrained approach. I'd rather be seen with a laid-back attitude than having people going out of their way to be kind.

... It's also my birthday.

So since I'm on vacation, I just came in from the pool to note that this LP will update again next week. Apparently, in the next part... uh... huh. Pretty sure that already happened? Oh, no matter, find out about it all next time.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
The new update day for this Let's Play is Wednesday. This is because the LP has been going on for a year, and I have had the LP updating on my site on Mondays. As such, I "used" all the WA3 day facts for Tuesdays of 2023, because they would match the Monday 2022 facts. Whoops! And, given I like to see a little variety, we're moving over to Wednesdays here.

This is how I satisfy the voices screaming in my brain.

So, that said, today is Wednesday, April 26, Idea Day. There was a gloomy man who tried to make poison from herbs to kill the woman he hated... One day, he accidentally spilled the herbal mixture over his clothes, leaving a green stain. The stain was so stubborn it couldn't be washed away. Seeing this, the man decided to market the concoction as green paint, instead.

Chapter 55: Blasts from the Past

Previously on Wild Arms 3
: Maya has been kidnapped! Still! Siegfiend has demanded the Teardrop in exchange for her safe return, so we have to go fish that out of the Ruins of Memory.

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And away we go. Decided to give our horses a workout. They’ve been getting lazy since we started riding around on a dragon.

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Ruins of Memory is a dungeon we explored way back in Chapter 1. In a way, it was our first “real”, full party dungeon.

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Ruins of Memory was only visited once so far, but it was also obliquely referenced at the Leyline Observatory when it was noted that the acronym ARMs in Wild Arms 3 stands for “Artifacts (from) Ruins: Memories”. So this place is quietly relevant across the whole of the game.

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Remember when we teamed up with Janus here? Good times.

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Eh, I can kinda see it.
Looks a little familiar for some reason…

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Anywho, nothing has changed about Ruins of Memory since our last visit.

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The only clue around here is that if you are paying attention (or using the Tracker item from Millennium Puzzle #10), you will notice there is an inaccessible bridge in one of the rooms. Now we just have to find our way up there…

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You could easily spend hours wandering around this ruin, desperate to find the all-important item you somehow missed on your first trip.

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But this plaque (that has always been here) offers more than a subtle clue.

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We first visited Ruins of Memory back when we were fledgling Drifters. Now we have been all over the world, and acquired the grappling hook of experience. And a literal grappling hook, too. Time to use that.

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Whole new area to explore. Note that (the majority of) this section aesthetically fits perfectly with the earlier dungeon, and really sells the concept that this is just a previously undiscovered “second floor” to the place.

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First, we have one of those “hit one switch, the two nearby switches turn off/on” puzzles. I eat these kinds of puzzles for breakfast.

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Hey, we’re up here now. Neat.

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If you remember your lore from our earlier adventure (which was almost a year ago in Let’s Play time), Ruins of Memory is supposed to be a derelict museum. The lower floors are all looted and destroyed, but there are still some nice paintings up here in the hidden area.

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This particular tapestry may be a reference to the first Wild Arms. In a memorable moment during that story, Adlehyde, the castle town that was the hometown of one of your protagonists, had a particularly heated time during some demon negotiations. Given the whole place was torched thanks to demonkind attempting to steal the Teardrop, this seems relevant to our current circumstances…

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Other paintings in the area are generally pleasant.

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There does not seem to be any way forward in this gallery, but using “flame” on the painting entitled “Flame” will provide a path.

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Take that, priceless relic of the past.

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And our final barrier is… a door.

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Anybody think to bring a key?

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We did! Last update, we found Maya’s lost book, and the bookmark was the Card Key. And we can use that now!

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So if you are one of those pedantic nerds, yes, you can always come to the Ruins of Memory, but you won’t find this area until you have the grappling hook. And even if you do come here immediately after earning the grappling hook, you need to wait until you complete the Dissection Facility, because the ultimate reward for that quest is Maya’s keycard. So, yes, even though the Teardrop is and has always been hiding in this room from an early dungeon, you cannot access it until it is plot mandated.

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Quick! Somebody send Shady the Cat to touch the highlighted jewel to confirm it isn’t a trap!

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We have learned nothing.

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Maya has been kidnapped for a few hours, and Virginia is getting all “I want to have an intimate relationship with this rock,” like this is a Steven Universe forum.

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There is a quick note about the merits of trading this all-powerful gem for one puny human.

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But we’re heroes, and you know how this is going to go.

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We found it! We have an artifact so powerful, it once lifted an entire city into the sky. We can probably pawn it for some solid beer money.

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The Teardrop is an item in our inventory (for now).

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And you can actually use it in battle with Virginia’s Mystic command. It simply casts the normal Heal spell, so it is more of an easter egg than anything.

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Welp, that’s it. We got what we came for.

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Sometimes reusing a dungeon in an RPG comes off as a “cheat” or an obvious cost-cutting move. In this case, I very much approve of the reuse of Ruins of Memories. With the “inaccessible” higher area followed by a sealed door (that Maya found the key for somewhere), it really sells how an object of such incredible strength could be lost to heroes and villains for so long. The Teardrop is an amazing find, but it takes so much to find it, it is no wonder it has gone missing for generations. And just to drive this point home, you explored this dungeon once already, and completely missed it, too. Excellent use of gameplay/storytelling synergy.

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Oh, and speaking of gameplay, guess who has come to congratulate us.

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We never did discuss a handoff location, so it’s nice that they teleported on in.

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Teleportation really does streamline this process!

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We will be ignoring this advice immediately.

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Last time Virginia had a magical gem or two in her hands, it went poorly.

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Virginia hands off the Teardrop, and…

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Extremely loud incorrect buzzer.

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Fooooooled you.

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So Virginia completely blew it, but the experienced Drifters are here to save the day.

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“Just in time to watch you hand over our only leverage like a moron.”

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Ha ha! You never suspected Maya could have a loving family because you’re a putz!

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Let’s fight about it.

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Been a while! So here’s the fight that could have been the finale for Chapter 2, but wasn’t.

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So far, the only time we fought all the Prophets at once was when they were on their last legs, and, while they weren’t complete pushovers, there was a plot-mandated reason they could not pull out all their tricks with one foot in the grave.

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Now we face them simultaneously at full power. Or maybe “more” power? How much of a powerup do you get from becoming a demon?

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What does this all mean?

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Well, each of the Prophets now use their “moves” from when they were solo fights.

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This isn’t Bravely Default, they don’t really have any sort of synergy with their abilities. But their individual powers are powerful.

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As a reminder, Malik is so fast, he cannot be hit with physical attacks unless you hit him with a decelerate (slow) spell.

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He also will smack you with strong physical attacks and status effects.

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Melody is poison to the core. She will use a poison attack frequently, and counter any attacks with poison, too.

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Equip a poison ward to nullify her greatest offense, or have fun leaking HP.

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And Leehalt still has his “full counter” ability that means he does not technically do anything in a round unless you hit him. If you do hit him, though, he will return exactly the same damage upon his attacker.

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Though he has the same weakness of only countering the final blow of any multi-hit attack, so a gatling that runs out of bullets may work well.

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This battle isn’t all that difficult if you counter everyone. Poison wards nullify Melody, confusion wards will neuter Malik, and if you ignore Leehalt, you can avoid any damage from him until the absolute end. The real test here is simply if you remember your defenses from back in Chapter 2.

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Not that the battle matters anyway. The real fun starts once Shady makes the scene.

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Looks like all of our heroes are playing well together. If you remember, this dungeon was where we got burned with Janus, so it is good to see Virginia has made some real friends out in the wastelands.

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But speaking of old friends…

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Time to suffer the consequences of another old plan.

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The golem is back, baby!

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I just told you!

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Asgard!

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I will always remember what my father told me on my wedding day.

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“If you are going to banish one of your enemies to an unknown point in time, make sure it is not the one enemy you have that is a confirmed immortal.”

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I mean, we do live in a world where people routinely are brought back from the dead with “revive fruits”, so this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

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Man, super good luck for the Prophets that they chose to fight at the one place on this planet that happened to house their entombed, ruthlessly dedicated robot.

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“Master, I have -returned-. “

“Returned...!? Then, that means...”

“To fulfill my master's command...And...to exchange fire with you again.”

Thanks?

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“New glasses?”

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“Asgard! Have you seen my 'Don't talk to me until I've had my Panakeia' mug? I haven’t seen it since we left the Yggdrasil, and you have a good memory.”

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Maybe Asgard spent the last millennia learning how to be a better robot-person, and no longer cares for violence or…

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Oh. Never mind.

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This shouldn’t be a big deal. That barrier only killed us the last time it got used at full power.

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Two for two!

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A reasonable time to believe you are hallucinating.

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“Daddy has magic protect-me powers! I knew it!”

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By “take advantage” we mean “be quiet” because “Daddy doesn’t want to talk right now.”

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“Silent, Virginia. Like crabs.”

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So Virginia finally apologizes for being angry the last time Werner had to save them from Asgard. Or maybe she is apologizing for when she was mean at Ruins of Dreams? No, it’s probably the Asgard one. Good “killed by robot” parallels.

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Daddy-Daughter Day is gonna be complicated this year.

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“You don’t have to tell me now… We… Probably don’t have much oxygen. That’s… a good reason…”

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“I know you'll tell me, someday...I'll be waiting...Waiting to hear what you have to say...But, don't leave me again, Daddy...Please...”
You got pattern recognition, Virginia?

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Against all odds, this is somehow the second time Todd has appeared to awaken Virginia while she is dream-pleading with her father. Is this foreshadowing for the reveal that Todd is Virginia’s real father? (No, it isn’t.)

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We’re fine!

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Literally no one acknowledges this as an explanation. Clive is probably gesturing to Alfred to just shut up and let Virginia have her fantasy of “Daddy Barriers”.

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The Teardrop is gone, and Maya was never here. But don’t worry! Alfred accounted for our ineptitude.

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Alfred explains that he used trackable shrapnel in his bomb from the start of the battle. He does not note that Maya asked him to invent this tech so she could GPS Virginia at all times.

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We’re going to be okay!

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… Until the tracker stops working. But we have a general spot to look. Let’s head to Laxisland (again) next!

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Look, I don’t want to hear a peep from Virginia’s team right now. You guys fumbled the most important item in history/Maya's engagement gem.

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“We’ll take our dragon! You guys fly there with your cat or whatever it is you do.”

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And we are done with all that nonsense. Off to Laxisland!

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Just for curiosity’s sake, if you return to Ruins of Memory, you can explore the whole dungeon again without issue, just the main hall is more than a little wrecked up.

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Asgard gone, girl.

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(flashback to when there wasn't even an hour on the clock)

And as I tried to avoid “spoiling” earlier in the LP, Asgard has always been a part of ROM all the way back to our first visit. If you have a particularly good memory (and a decent TV), you may have recognized Asgard’s initial appearance in Prophet cutscenes as that same “thing” from Ruins of Memory a handful of dungeons earlier. Or maybe you just assumed it was typical PS2 era asset reusage. Whatever! It was a clue! We know that now.

Also, given Ruins of Memory is a pretty prominent ruin (the Prophets’ own lackey Janus did explore the place), Asgard could be a stable time loop wherein Melody’s design was based on the future/past Asgard chilling in stone… but WA3 isn’t as interested in timeloops as the Final Fantasy series, so nobody dwells on that.

So that was kind of a quick update, and Maya is probably doing just fine as a captive, so we are going to take a moment to deal with a little optional Wild Arms 3 optional content.

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Across Filgaia, you will see many signs posted by “Alan Smithy”. If you recall, Alan Smithy is supposed to be the “original” Drifter, and his tips are supposedly legendary advice… that may or may not have been provided by other Drifters claiming the name Alan Smithy.

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We also found that one book that distinctly noted Alan Smithy has “many unproven tales credited to him” and he may be dead or immortal.

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And this will be relevant in a moment when we decide to pay Daddy a visit.

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Even once you obtain your airship, you cannot easily return to the Yggdrasil area.

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So once again through Nidhogg Pass…

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Enemies are pushovers, but a number of the puzzles reset.

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Okay, back in the forest.

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It is recommended you revisit this area at least once after obtaining the radar from Gunner’s Heaven. As we covered during that update, there is an EX File Key hiding in the woods.

(And this is the same key we covered then, just flashing back as a reminder. There are not two keys here.)

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But our important destination is Green Lodge.

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The next mandatory dungeon will grant us a tool that will allow us to transform this rooster into an item. I am not doing another trip through Nidhogg Pass, so…

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Here’s a flashforward to the item you can obtain later.

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Magic Candle will confer a skill that grants you additional encounter points after a battle. Like a lot of late game treasures, this is only really important in The Abyss, and even then, it is only important if you are actually entertaining battles down there. Not recommended. But it is recommended you obtain this one-of-a-kind item when you’re here.

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But our real reason for visiting today is Daddy’s little monster.

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Sing ‘em a song, Gallows.

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Meet our unique super boss…

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John Dee.

I have seen debate amongst Wild Arms 3 fans that John Dee is supposed to be Alan Smithy, one way or another. To wit, I have seen the following explanations:

1. “John Dee” appears as the same name as “Alan Smithy” in the original Japanese.
2. “John Dee” and “Alan Smithy” are separate names in the original Japanese, but only because someone misunderstood they were supposed to be the same (English) anonymous pseudonym.
3. “John Dee” is intended to be the “real” Alan Smithy regardless of naming intentions. This is part of the myth of the man/demon.
4. “John Dee” is supposed to be the demon that defeated “Alan Smithy” (As mentioned in the previously noted Alan Smithy book).

Unfortunately, there is not much documentation on an otherwise forgettable super boss that only appears once 70% of the way through a Playstation 2 exclusive that was released in 2002, so I don’t know the real answer here. But there is the distinct possibility that John Dee here is supposed to be lore relevant. I guess.

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For my money, Alan Smithy is distinctly described as a “gunslinger” in his in-game biography, and Johnny here only uses magic and a billy club, so it is entirely possible this creature has as much to do with the lore as Heimdel Gazzo or Kraken.

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Let’s focus on what we know: John Dee does not have any overt weaknesses.

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He has about an 80% counter chance with a brutal physical attack, and he leans into spells that are both dark-based and non-elemental.

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Unfortunately, his biggest hit-all attack is non-elemental, so that is going to do a lot of damage if your levels are not up to snuff.

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So what’s the trick this time? Well, John Dee has an AI quirk wherein if you buff your party in any way, there is seemingly a 75% chance he will use his turn to cast Eraser, the dispel spell of Wild Arms 3.

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This is vastly preferable to nearly every other move he can use, so just make sure Jet or Virginia are casting a buff on a party member every turn. It doesn’t matter what buff you cast, just buff something, and John Dee is very likely to forgo totaling your entire party in favor of canceling a useless speed-up spell.

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Dark Ward will handle any of the dark spells, and then it is just a matter of healing after the (now extremely rare) Unbreakable spell? move.

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Clive took a number of hits thanks to JD’s counterattacks, but we still won the day.

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And we earned an Ebony Shadow.

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Ebony Shadow is vaguely complicated. Ebony Shadow will guard against distinct Arcana Attacks, like Spectre (light spell) or Pressure (water spell). It will not defend against unique monster attacks, so things like Ragu o Ragala’s One Trillion Degrees will pass right through the Ebony Shadow. Given that the majority of super bosses use their own distinct attacks, this makes Ebony Shadow worthless when it could be most useful. That said, a number of lesser monsters across the game use arcana, so it is not wholly useless.

Beyond that, Ebony Shadow actually working is based on a FP/PS point ratio. If you only devote one PS point to Ebony Shadow/Arcana Blocker, it will only work when your FP is at 100. If you provide the maximum four PS points, it will block anytime you have 25 FP or more… which is practically all the time at this point in the game. There isn’t a detailed explanation of this effect in Wild Arms 3, so if you don’t think it’s working, there’s your answer.

And, on a personal note, I have never bothered with Ebony Shadow beyond testing purposes. An elemental ring is always the better choice.

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And now we don’t ever have to come back. Don’t forget to stop by the one Millennium Puzzle in the Yggdrasil Grove while you’re here!

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You cannot summon your dragon to leave, but you can teleport away. Come to think of it, make sure you have a Warp Star or Teleport Orb before coming to Green Lodge, or you’ll have to walk back through that damn dungeon again.

And, no, teleporting to Green Lodge is never an available choice.

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And now we’re at Laxisland. Will we pick up the plot again and rescue Maya?

Next time on Wild Arms: The second or third worst sidequest in Wild Arms 3.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Good to see Chekov's Golem finally getting addressed. I very nearly forgot about this.

Kind of odd Asgard's Demon Radar didn't immediately pick up what had changed with his master, though. He was super aggro towards Janus precisely because he was a demon but he's totes cool with Leehalt and co's new glow ups. Must be off his game due to being in sleep mode for so long.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
I would argue that Asgard was guarded around Janus not because of the demon involved, but the man...

But we are not talking about Asgard today, because today is May 3, Butler Day. Butlers are handy people who handle all of your general affairs at home. They can even help you sleep better when you tell them to count sheep for you. I wish I had a butler...

Chapter 56: An Extraterrestrial Affair

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
Maya has been kidnapped for so long at this point, I do not even remember what she looks like. The most recent debacle saw Virginia attempting to trade the Teardrop for Maya’s release, but that was an unimaginable failure, and now the bad guys have fled to somewhere nebulously “outside Laxisland”.

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So here we are at Laxisland. That sounds like a clue!

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“Ventura, Ventura...The encroaching -forces of chaos- are a menace to all forms of life. They seek only to rend and maim. My associates in the sea of stars give me directives to keep the aliens from overrunning us.

We have confirmed sighting of them and their interplanetary vessels all over the world! That's right. Chaos is much, much closer than you think.”

Chaos you say? You should meet my buddy Jack...

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So if we wander a little west of Laxisland, we will find this little tower. Is this where they’re keeping Maya?

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That’s…. new?

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Simply "Telepath Tower" was something of a broadcast tower in Wild Arms 2.
But is this dungeon fighting us?

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Oh. That whole overworld map thing is a lot harder to scale than I thought. These towers are barely taller than Gallows.

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Nothing too interesting on its stat screen.

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Telepath Tower #1 (all three of ‘em are three separate enemies with identical stats) only use a pair of attacks. Either a basic attack called Hyperion Blaster…

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Or Numb Light, which will inflict amnesia.

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Amnesia only impacts your EXP gains, and doesn’t affect the battle proper. So just hit the Telepath Towers until they ain’t towers no more.

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These things take more damage than your average monster, but they still go down pretty quick.

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And we get a smattering of EXP for our troubles.

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And… uh… guess that wasn’t a lead.

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Oh Guardians damn it. We got tricked into a sidequest.

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Still, probably a good idea to take out the King of Beasts.

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So welcome to Wild Arms 3’s most… half-baked sidequest. There is a nugget of a good time here, but it feels like this whole quest was somehow a late addition to the game, and not really tested to the point that someone might squeeze something worthwhile out of it.
Note for posterity’s sake that this entire update is optional, and this quest can be undertaken at any point in the game from now on. Sorta. We’ll get into those details at the end of the update.

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First of all, as Roswell said, there are 15 numbered Telepath Towers across the globe. Like the Millennium Puzzles, they are hidden all over the place, and there are rarely any clues or indicators that “something might be hiding here”. Either hammer your radar button at all times while traversing the world, or grab the Sonar Kit at the coliseum that just puts them right on your map.

Note that you cannot find the “other” Telepath Towers until you clear Telepath Tower #1, and Roswell will not let you uncover that first tower until after the Teardrop business from last update. So, to be concise, you cannot “accidentally” find a tower until way late in the game.

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Each of the Telepath Towers is slightly stronger than the last in both general stats (like HP and defense) and abilities. Telepath Tower #1 uses Amnesia as its (only) status effect, #2 uses Disease, which prevents healing. It has a slightly more detrimental effect on the battle.

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Since the Telepath Towers primarily rely on their status effects, here is the solution to beating every Telepath Tower.

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First you cast Status Lock. This is an ability conferred by the Love medium. It makes you invulnerable to status effects for a few turns. Note that the message above simply means that you are still vulnerable to dying from a lack of HP. As far as I have been able to see, it still protects against instant death, just not regular death.

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Then you cast Permanence, compliments of the Hope medium. Permanence means Status Lock will only wear off if you die. There. Now you’re invincible to any Telepath Tower’s worst abilities.

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You can either take the time to cast these spells on each character individually over the course of five turns, or you can use Gallows to cast it on everyone inside of two turns. Gallows is probably the best bet if a Telepath Tower is using a nasty ability like paralysis or bronze (stone).

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While you are making positive status effects permanent, you may as well hit Clive with Hyper and let him go hog with double attack power.

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And that’s it. That’s the strategy for fifteen packs of telepath towers. Let’s go down the list here…

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Telepath Tower #3 uses poison. This is arguably the first status attack that could really ruin your day.

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You can tackle the towers in any order (and you’re just seeing them in order here in the LP because I have the hindsight of being able to direct screenshots), but their stats and abilities are set according to their numbers, not whatever order you find them. However, regardless of which towers you take out first, you’ll get an ominous warning after you murder your initial three tower sets. It doesn’t mean anything… for now.

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Moving on.

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What’s that? Sleep? Confusion? Not going to bother to look it up.

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We got a long way to go this update.

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That one definitely inflicts depression. Oddly, not being able to use your abilities doesn’t have much of an impact on these mini wars of attrition. Just keep hitting it.

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After five towers go down (well, technically fifteen, as you fight them in bunches of three), you are warned of encroaching chaos.

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It encroached too close!

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Hell…o?

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Oh, I know this guy.

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Creeping Chaos is a gray/flatwoods monster-monster that has been appearing since the first Wild Arms. They have been just random encounters across the franchise up to this point, though they were notable in Wild Arms (1) for carrying Duplicators as a potential stealable item (Duplicators being just as valuable in Wild Arms as Wild Arms 3). As you can see from this update, they get a little more plot in Wild Arms 3… but not much.

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Important to note that these beasts drop a lot of experience points for being a fairly basic creature.

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Like their tower cousins, Creeping Chaos is big into inflicting status effects.

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Human Experimentation is the Bad Breath of Wild Arms 3, and can potentially infect one character with every status effect.

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Creeping Chaos has a lot of HP, but if you use the same Status Lock/Permanence technique, it basically has no effective attacks.

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Gimme all dat experience.

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We will address Creeping Chaos again soon enough. For now, have some time off from aliens.

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Back to towers.

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#6 uses paralysis. Note that paralysis can be a bear in Wild Arms 3’s turn-based combat system, as if someone is paralyzed before they take their turn (like Clive, that dude is so slow), then they effectively lose two turns: the initial paralysis, and the second round being healed but unable to choose an action at the start of the turn. And by then, they could be paralyzed again…

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Lucky Tower 7.

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This weird ass name means “you are turned to glass”.

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That is like paralysis, but makes you super vulnerable to physical attacks. Good thing the towers didn’t think to bring any physical attacks!

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This might be the only time in the game it is relevant to cure Glass. Any other fight, you just wait another round for the random battle to be won.

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Moving on to eight.

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Okay! That’s the one that inflicts confusion. The earlier one must have been sleep…

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By about Tower #9, these chunks of masonry are getting too big for their britches. Their HP and defense ratings gradually escalating make battles that were already boring last way too long.

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This one inflicts Bronze. The difference between bronze and glass is that glass will wear off after a few turns, whereas bronze must be cured, or it is effectively death.

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But Bronze also comes with a countdown timer, so you don’t have to worry too much.

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Telepath Tower #10 is in some rocky terrain that requires a bit of a walk.

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Like, way too long of a walk.

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Double digits!

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This jerk straight up uses an instant death attack.

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Oh! More screaming!

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This is, surprisingly enough, a good thing.

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Spoilers for the rest of the update: the overall rewards for this quest are lousy, and 100% not worth the trouble of all this effort.

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However, instigating these random encounters is a better reward than you will ever receive for actually finishing this quest.

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After felling ten (technically thirty) towers, groups of three Creeping Chaos will be random encounters anywhere on the overworld. Under normal circumstances, this can really ruin your day. However, if you know to protect against status effects immediately…

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They can do their worst, but still not get anywhere. Arc-en-Ciel could inflict a host of status effects on everyone in your party… but now it is ineffective.

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Now that they’re neutered, toss a lucky card on everybody. One Creeping Chaos is worth a lot of EXP, but three at once means a smorgasbord of experience points. Doubling that feels even better.

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You can also use status preventing skills to get that EXP multiplier up even higher. Whatever your route, try to wring as much EXP out of these aliens as possible.

Several guides recommend releasing the Creeping Chaos onto the world, and then farming them until the Abyss or the super bosses are a lot more manageable. I’m not going to do that in either playthrough, but it is indisputably the fastest/easiest way to gain EXP in Wild Arms 3... assuming you get lucky with RNG alien encounters. Probably a good idea to hunt them around Baskar or another early-game area with otherwise weak opponents.

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Okay, back to business. Telepath Tower #11 has been living under a rock.

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How did this guy work under that boulder?

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Starting with Eleven, the towers now can use multiple status effects.

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This one has amnesia and disease… which actually makes it easier than a lot of the previous towers. It still has way too much HP, though!

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Tower #12 is an easy flight, but you need a horse for the last leg.

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Cool location.

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Sleep…

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And poison this time. Those two do actually have decent synergy.

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Compared to the last few, Lucky Thirteen is an easy find.

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Paralysis…

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And Misery for this guy.

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#14 has all sorts of requirements. First you need to use a missile from your airship…

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And then scoot around to land on the beach with your sandcraft. Hey, remember when we had to use that boat all the time?

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In defense of this tower, this alcove has always seemed suspect, so you are likely to find this tower thanks to inquisitive investigating.

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The last two try to pull out all the stops.

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Not content with just using two separate attacks…

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#14 can induce amnesia, disease, poison, and misery. Note that disease and poison can be a deadly combination.

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Clearing specifically Tower #14 leads to a sighting.

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I want to believe.

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I guess #14 is deliberately placed to remind you you have a sandcraft, because the next phase of alien hunting involves that old jalopy.

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But first we should hit that final(ish) tower. Remember Sunset Peak? That train station that can only be reached by teleporting/teleporting mishaps?

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Like the final Millennium Puzzle, you must ditch the airship and explore the Sunset Peak area for the final Telepath Tower.

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This is going to take a while.

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Telepath Towers #15 each have 17,400 HP and 272 Defense. Telepath Towers #1 had 6,900 HP and 200 Defense. You feel every point of health as this quest slogs on.

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Also, as you can guess from the last tower…

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They love their status effects…

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And you have to contend with sleep, paralysis, confusion, bronze, and instant death.

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If you haven’t figured out how to layer your buffs at this point, you’re pretty well done.

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Whichever tower is conquered last, you will receive this message.

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Just means there is more to do…

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It’s been an out of this world experience.

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Sigh.

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After completing the (first) fifteen towers, another tower pops up somewhere in the world. It cannot be found during your first survey of the entire planet, so it is a bear if you don’t have radar (or a FAQ).

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And even if you know where you are going, it is a little bit of a puzzle, as you have to know to use a teleport orb to teleport to Boot Hill, which then teleports your sandcraft, which then allows you to scoot across the sand lake by Virginia’s hometown.

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Now we can land on this rocky beach to find…

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Telepath Tower Zero.

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Telepath Tower Zero is not a set of three, but one lonely tower.

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You know what to do.

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This jerk can use every status effect. So status lock is still your win button.

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If you are somehow fighting this battle without status lock (and how could you not be after learning from the previous fifteen fights), you may find that this thing is even easier than previous towers. It is only one tower, so it only attacks once per round. Additionally, since it can use every status effect, there are equal odds it will use instant death or amnesia; so you may see it use ineffective moves on many consecutive rounds. In short, Telepath Tower #0 is generally easier than its brethren.

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It has a very annoying 65,000 HP, though, so you’re going to be here a while.

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Hammer away.

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There we go.

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And now “the mothership” has taken flight. We’ll deal with her later.

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Glad to hear it!

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If you want exact directions to each of the Telepath Towers, I have prepared this GIF. Note that the Telepath Tower section of your map has been there since we first purchased a map way back at the beginning of the game, but only starts getting filled in now, about 75% of the way through the whole adventure.

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Gah! We’ll get to it.

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Next step in this inordinately complicated quest…

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The aliens are trying to steal our crap ocean!

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After you clear (specifically) Tower #14, there will be UFO monsters stalking the seas.

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In order to start this quest, you must have visited Laxisland. In order to find Laxisland, you must have beaten Balal Quo Naga. In order to get past Balal Quo Naga, you must…

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Have purchased a deluxe cannon for your sandcraft. As such, you are all but guaranteed to wipe out every UFO in a turn if you recall you can fire all ammo at once. Yes, I would argue the only “challenge” here is remembering how your sandcraft works after ignoring it for dragon times.

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So these battles are remarkably straightforward.

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They make a big, boss-like deal out of these jerks, but they are barely worth mentioning.

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That is just insulting at this point in the game.

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And now we have to do this four more times. To advance this section of the quest, you must hunt and kill five total sand-UFOs.

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The hardest part is not the battles, but just puttering around the planet waiting for one of these jerks to show up.

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Was that five? Let’s call that five.

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Yeah, eat void, dork. At least this quest is good about informing you when you’ve hit the next breakthrough.

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Okay, let’s get off that sandcraft and back to dry(er) land.

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Now we got these dorks in the sky.

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This is our first air battle in Wild Arms 3. This is still part of this wholly optional quest, though, so if you do it before the first air battle in the mandatory plot, you don’t receive any sort of tutorial. Given we will get to that tutorial in this Let’s Play soon enough, I am going to save details on air battles for that update.

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For now, just be aware that air battles are very similar to sandcraft battles in the only way that matters: there are not many options during these fights, and there is a very straightforward “always do this and you win” option.

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So, spoilers, Lombardia fights are boring. Luckily, there are only a handful in the game.

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And the overwhelming majority are all part of this sidequest!

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Lombardia has one health bar, and you can see it is nearly a cool million. 3,659 damage ain’t gonna do a damn thing.

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Fine, I’ll talk about the win button. As Lombardia once used against you, you can now command her to use an ability called Mighty Might, which maxes Lombardia’s stats for the tradeoff of being paralyzed and vulnerable for a few turns when the effect wears off.

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However, Lombardia also has a move that uses all of her FP to fire off a laser that will kill everything on the planet. If you use Mighty Might before the genocide laser (not its actual name) at 100 FP, there is not a blessed thing that will survive.

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That’s a spicy meat-a-ball.

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Unalive Flying Object.

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Another insult.

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So the good news is that these things are easy encounters. The bad news is that you have to kill goldarned 20 of them. 19 to go!

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At least with the air-UFOs, there are no other monsters you can encounter while flying (save one very precise point in the game that will start and end quickly). It is just a matter of zooming around and battling whatever pops up.

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The UFOs never change over the course of twenty battles, so use the exact same technique every time. Noticing a pattern with this whole sidequest?

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After 20 victories, we are in the final stretch.

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When did Roswell gain the ability to control our narration?

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Luckily, this is just going to be another air-random battle. You don’t have to actively “find” the mothership.

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Here we are.

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Mothership is the mother of all air battles in Wild Arms 3. Note that this is the only sidequest that involves air battling, and the whole UFO-Mothership line is the only reason you would ever fight in Lombardia past a few mandatory battles that don’t even last into the endgame.

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As the greatest challenge faced by Lombardia, Mothership is the one damned thing on this planet (sorta) that can survive our “win button”. So you may want to play this one straight with boosting defense and whatever.

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Or you can just… not do that.

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Look, the Mighty Might cooldown after a big attack is frightening, as you are defenseless for three turns…

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However, Lombardia has so damn much HP, it’s not like you are going to die in three turns.

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So use your super attack. Take your lumps, and then ram this sucker to regain FP and do your super attack again.

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And I didn’t even get that far! Mothership started detonating just when I was getting back to full FP again.

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And that’s that. We earn an EX File Key that signifies we have conquered this whole stupid quest, and, on the PS4/PS5, we get a trophy. Note that, for once, we get a decent gella/EXP reward for vehicle combat, too.

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Peace in our time.

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Even Roswell is proud of us.

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Note that with references to the “King of Beasts” and “Cage of Darkness”, Roswell may be saying that the UFOs were trying to drag Ragu O Ragala out from The Abyss for some nefarious purpose. This could be a fun bit of lore, as Ragu O Ragala was imprisoned on a space station (of sorts) in Wild Arms (1), so maybe it was extraterrestrials that buried him deep underground generations back in WA3, and are now trying to retrieve their doomsday monster. Or it could just be Roswell’s typical flowery prose. Who knows.

Anywho, let’s talk about this terrible sidequest.

What you have just seen is the ideal/intended way for this sidequest to go. However, you check any Wild Arms 3 message board or FAQ (presumably because, thanks to a time travel mishap, you are stuck in the early 21st Century), and you will find all sorts of topics on how this quest is glitched. To wit:

• Despite Roswell being there from your first visit, it appears this quest can only be activated after the Teardrop handoff.
• If you do not complete the first tower at this time, and just advance the plot/ignore Roswell, then the quest will never activate again.
• However, there are nebulously substantiated reports that you can reactivate the quest (much) later in the game, but the method for doing so involves a lot of tricky “talk to this guy then save and reset and talk to this other guy” nonsense.

Now, missing this entire quest is no big deal (for reasons we will cover in a moment), but it is the only sidequest in Wild Arms 3 that is only available for a limited amount of time (note, for instance, that the “find every treasure chest” quest is deliberately arranged so there is never a treasure chest that is inaccessible due to a dungeon exploding or alike). And is that intentional? Probably not! Roswell will still blather on about aliens if you miss his window, but you simply will not be able to “find” the first Telepath Tower. This is probably some kind of glitch because this sidequest was added late in development. Similarly, there are many reports that destroying Telepath Tower Zero doesn’t actually do anything, and the mothership finale is only ever activated after clearing the twenty random UFOs. The progression of the messages in the game seems to imply that TT#0 is a required part of this quest, but a number of people have earned their EX File Key with the “final” Telepath Tower still on the map.

And further proof that this was a late addition to Wild Arms 3? The rewards barely exist. You get a decent amount of experience from felling the towers, but Roswell “the quest giver” hands out exactly nothing at key points in the quest. Additionally, the vehicle segments barely offer anything, and their “mission accomplished” messages similarly provide bupkis. This is in stark contrast to the Millennium Puzzles, which offer one treasure per puzzle, with wholly unique treasures for about 60% of them. Similarly, the Abyss and the Coliseum offer exclusive treasures at every “phase” of their respective challenges. It is disgraceful that the best you see out of the UFO quest is a random encounter that can offer extra EXP, and that random encounter “prize” vanishes when you finally win. Finishing this quest is not in your long-term interest.

And vehicle segments make sense for a set piece or two, but twenty goddamned battles that are all exactly the same is something else.

And while we are talking about similar battles, the Telepath Towers likewise needed a little more time in the oven. The concept of 15 (+ 1) battles with parallel monsters that all have slightly different attacks could be interesting… but Wild Arms 3 is also a game where you have one spell that will counter all 15 of those “different” monsters. And, considering possession of that spell is extremely likely before starting this quest (spoilers, the next update requires you have all the Guardian Lords/this spell), the whole thing comes off as busy work. Solving one puzzle boss makes you feel like a champ. Having to then employ that same solution another fourteen (plus one) times from there feels perfunctory.

And on top of all this, your reward for this whole thing is just another EX File Key, which may as well be “insert trophy here”. You are a super player.

So, yes, the Roswell/Alien sidequest of Wild Arms 3 appears to be a late addition to the game. If it wasn’t, it absolutely was something that wasn’t treated with as much care as literally every other sidequest/event in the game. The Abyss is a monster dungeon that is a complete slog, but it at least has the excuse of being in the style of the time. UFO hunting is comparatively a glitchy, unrewarding mess.

But it’s over now, so let us never speak of it again.

Next time on Wild Arms: Back to the actual reason we went to Laxisland.
 

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
Didn't you say you need all of the EX File Keys to do something or other?
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
The Ex File Keys are the "trophies" of Wild Arms 3 (before it had actual, ya know, trophies), and the more you have, the better. That said, you definitely don't need all of them, and I can safely say I will not get all the Ex File Keys in the LP, because Arioch is bullshit.

This will all be explained in better detail in... ummm... Update Chapter #72.

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Last edited:

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
I have been informed by the concept of time that if you have an LP update on Monday and Tuesday, and you want to avoid using the same dates again the following year, the corresponding days would be Tuesday and Wednesday. Oops. So this LP will now update on Thursday going forward until its completion. Please look forward to it.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Okay, everybody chill out, it is May 11, Leisure Day. Leisure Day was originally Pleasure Day, but because of educational and cultural reasons, it was renamed Leisure Day last year.

Chapter 57: Breaking In

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
Maya has been kidnapped for so long at this point, I do not even remember what she looks like. The most recent debacle saw Virginia attempting to trade the Teardrop for Maya’s release, but that was an unbelievable failure, and now the bad guys have fled to somewhere nebulously “outside Laxisland”.

… And if this recap sounds familiar…. Uh… blame aliens.

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Let’s actually find those ruins this time.

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See? Nalice makes all the difference. That silly Telepath Tower was within walking distance, but the real dungeon is up on an airship-only plateau.

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And you can’t tell me the villains are going to pass on a base called “Cradle of the Metal Gods”.

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So if we radar around up here…

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Let’s get this party started!

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… Or not.
Is this dungeon rejecting us?

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You can’t put a forcefield around the next plot dungeon! That’s cheating!

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So we cannot enter this cradle through the front door, and attempts to do so will prompt a message from Siegfried or one of the Prophets. Your leader determines which villain taunts your party.

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Gallows gets a message from Malik… Or maybe Siegfried? I hear he used to have mommy issues…

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So if we search around the area, there is a sign referencing a tunnel. That should work for bypassing a forcefield! Let’s get some more information from our pals at the Ark of Destiny…

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The Teleport Orb is man’s greatest invention.

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So there is this book on the Cradle of the Metal Gods and the Ark of Destiny constructed tunnel, Survey Point #08.

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This only-accessible-through-grappling-hook tome gives us exact directions to SP08, but…

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You must talk to Lamium about it, or the dungeon will never activate. Ask me how I know this.

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The book mentions that the tunnel had to be buried for safety, so you must missile-away a boulder.

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We’re going in!

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A bit of warning: some people have had issues re-accessing this dungeon after completing the area. On two recent playthroughs, I didn’t have any problems, and it is clear this spot is supposed to always be accessible, but some players have reported glitches causing it to disappear. So point is collect any and all treasures the first time you’re here to avoid headaches.

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Our first obstacle could be a major pain for the six people that didn’t find the Guardian Lords immediately.

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It is unclear if The Ark of Destiny losers or the Prophet losers did this, but someone sealed this door with all sorts of talismans. The only way through this door is possession of all 12 guardian mediums. Given the first 8 mediums are mandatory, this basically just means you must complete the Guardian Lord “sidequests” before making any further plot progress.

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Ultimately, this is a chance for Chapter 3, the section of Wild Arms 3 with the most freedom, to see the player merge back into a more “focused” path. … Does that make sense? You know what? I’ll make a chart…

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(click for a more legible view)

There!

Everything in red is the main path of the plot.
Everything in yellow is optional at its first availability, but eventually intersects at an outlined point to rejoin the main path.
And anything in green is wholly optional for the rest of forever.

Now does that make sense?

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Okay, on with the dungeon proper.

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Every Dim Root Path needs monsters.

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We’ve got unruly spirits…

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And werewolves that are dressed like Tusken Raiders.

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The Lyncathropes are jerks because they use spells that cut your HP by half. This is terrible at the start of a very long dungeon.

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The Evil Dead mostly just smack you around.

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There are also these harpy-looking things.

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Guess they are named Anzu.

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This spell increases the odds a status effect will work on your characters. I have never seen poison miss on my party anyway, but you do you.

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And air attacks from the air monsters. Ho-hum.

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2 dark rings! That is quite the valuable prize from a random encounter, though it is 100% random.

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Alright, as you saw in the pre-fight screenshot, there’s a gap we cannot cross, so we must see what is down here in this gully.

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Treasure! And weird blocks!

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Ah-ha! Our last tool!

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Changecrest is another Wild Arms staple, and is often one of the last tools you find. In Wild Arms 3, the Changecrest has a couple of purposes. First, it will transform orange crystals into orange blocks and vice versa. Get ready to see that a lot during this dungeon.

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Orange crystals are blockified by the Changecrest, but white crystals become teleporters. Throw your changecrest at a white crystal, and you’re there.

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Orange blocks have the same puzzle-properties as regular blocks, so they weigh down door switches.

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And before we waddle through more tutorials, let’s check in with the bad guys.

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At some point, Maya re-materialized her Calamity outfit, and is back to being her usual level of feisty. I choose to believe she manifested her default dress through sheer force of will.

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I want a complete list of Japanese media that includes the “Deux Ex Machina” as an actual object on my desk by morning.

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Maya is frustrated after being kidnapped, but exceptionally aghast at having all her hard work coopted by demons.

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Malik, I don’t think anyone has actually discussed turning you back into humans. In fact, given Siegfried wants to turn the whole planet into a demon…

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There is something about Maya’s little “at attention” head movement that works so perfectly.

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Big talk about “beauty” from the woman gradually transforming into a buffalo. That was not a metaphor.

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Back to the home team.

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Looks like this dungeon has a lot of similar structures.

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First, we’ll tear down this wall.

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You can transform these blocks into crystals, or move them around with Clive’s Mighty Gloves.

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And make a bridge! Yay!

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You can either make a complete path, or place the blocks with gaps so Virginia can zoom across with her galecrest.

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Treasure time!

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Now we double back to simply bypass the wall and find this other passageway.

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Challenge room!

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Use multiple tools to claim victory.

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Ah-ha. The most valuable treasure in the entire game is sitting right here where you practically can’t miss it.

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Violator confers the skill Finest Arts. We have talked about it a little bit during the sidequest sections of this Let’s Play, and we’ll finally give it a focused look… after we finish this long-ass dungeon. Note that a handful of super bosses are all but impossible without this dinky little Violator.

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For now, just remember that the Violator is a really easy to find treasure, and part of its mystique is that it doesn’t come with a manual.

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Minor block puzzle.

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You don’t have to use the Changecrest at all here. But if you do, that “generator” panel in the middle there will infinitely generate new orange crystals. It will never generate more crystals than there were in the room initially, so it is just there to guarantee you don’t “run out” of blocks.

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Moving on.

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Checking in on this thrilling dial-checking action.

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“Oh yeah, forgot to formally have a conversation with our time traveling robot. Have you always had that girl under your arm?”

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Leehalt makes the mistake of asking how Asgard made their way back to the present, and apparently the big bot had a whole speech prepared.

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“It sucked a whole lot less than this crapsack.”

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And then Asgard makes the mistake of comparing ancient Filgaia to a gem. Maya is interested in this!

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Siegfried’s most consistent character trait is having contempt for everybody.

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“That I am, but I am free to speak what I feel. That world was so peaceful and tranquil, and touching...It was the first time I felt a sense of love for the world...However, my duty is to protect my master. I devised a plan to return to the present world, and the result is history.”
Asgard is aspirational in how they don’t let the haters win.

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Napping toward victory.

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And, miraculously, it did work. Guess it fed on man’s natural tendency to not want to excavate freaky, horned creatures.

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“Your old boss is a sniveling toad, so I’m your new boss.”

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Leehalt doesn’t care about the change in management, but he does confirm with Asgard that the golem has information on this “not terrible all the time” version of Filgaia.

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“Let’s put it up on the big screen! Malik! Acquire the popcorn!”

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Meanwhile, we’re still trudging through a dungeon.

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We’re past the tutorial puzzles, let’s have a formal exam.

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I don’t know how to explain the solution to this puzzle. Basically, every block goes either immediately in the center, or to the next switch spot over from its adjacent switch spot. That make sense? I’m not making a chart this time.

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If you mess up badly, you can use the Changecrest to make a “new” crystal/block from the generator. But you shouldn’t ever have to do that.

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Another one of these rooms.

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Before dealing with the minor puzzle, you can simply walk over to the nearby treasure room.

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There had to be a trap somewhere.

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Imitator-mimics are hardly a speedbump at this point.

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Gallows doesn’t even have to whip out the good magic. Eat the wizardry of gunpowder (ARMpowder?).

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That’s always worth it.

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Also good! A gift for Clive’s daughter is marginally more important than avoiding random encounters.

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This time, you must remember that Virginia has a Galecrest, and build a bridge accordingly.

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Simple lesson in how teleporting and “throwing” apparently works through a fence.

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I’m… not certain this ever comes up again.

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We done yet?

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How is the plot going elsewhere?

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“We really gunked this thing up.”

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Asgard sitting back here, getting praise, expecting a promotion that is never going to come…

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Whoops, red alert.

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Is that us? It’s probably us.

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“My wish is to transform this planet into a giant life-form conglomerate. It shall act as an interstellar ship as well as an ecosystem to breed and raise demons. I shall call it...Starship Filgaia! With this, I shall head to new frontiers and quench my thirst for battle!”

Yeah, big whoop. Walt Disney had the exact same plan for Epcot.

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“Dispatch War Rocket Filgaia, to bring back his body!”

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Look, you don’t have to teleport away to find the intruders, but you do have to look busy.

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“Lousy Prophets, not installing a teleporter in ol’ Asgard… Can't even buy a frassin' cage for our captive...”

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Back to work.

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So this room is very similar to the last Violator room…

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But you need one extra tool to clear the gap.

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Then you zoom across the footholds to hit a block you have already pre-solidified.

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Move said block above the obvious wall switch…

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And bounce a boomerang off the block to fall and activate the switch. Hey! Every party member got to use a tool in this room! Synergy!

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Puzzle-puzzle time.

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So the trick to this room is that you must collect all the gems at once before they are respawned by their spawning tiles. You will not be able to run around the perimeter and collect them all fast enough in their current locations.

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So you must block-ify all the crystals…

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Move them close to each other…

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And gem-ify them back to catch ‘em all in one movement.

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Easy peasy. The door stays open once you solve the puzzle, so you don’t have to worry about dashing through a closing passage. That comes…

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Now. This hallway is technically safe and boring…

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But once you reach this door…

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Cutscene time!

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Wee-o Wee-o.

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“Did everybody… Oh yeah… We’re already here.”

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“But still! Don’t get your hands caught in the closing doors! Or… something?”

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They couldn’t possibly be monitoring the only other way into their base after we kept poking at their forcefield earlier.

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“Probably just some poor door-to-door salesman being executed.”

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Because there are so many tactical advantages to just staying in this hallway forever.

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It’s… right there.

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That was, like, eight steps. I counted.

But what is on the other side of that door? And who actually triggered the alarm? Find out next update!

Next time on Wild Arms: It was the cat.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
QUESTION IGNORED
Okay you basket cases, settle down for May 18, Green Day. Once there was a girl with green eyes. Her special talent was being able to photosynthesize sunlight. Although her eyes could conduct photosynthesis, her lungs weren't connected to her eyes, so all she could do was blow bubbles with her tears.

Chapter 58: Breaking Down

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
We are infiltrating the big bad base of the big bads! After a (not) thrilling race through some closing doors, it is time to check in with…

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The tube room.

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It has been a while, but please recall that Malik’s plan all along has been to revive his (presumably dead? Maybe just moved to Florida to get away from him?) mother. If you thought all the clone-mommies got flushed down the toilet after Yggdrasil crashed, here is confirmation that Malik is back on his bullshit.

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First dialogue for the most important character in this world.

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Ladies and gentlemen, she is finally for-real appearing.

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(flashback previously not seen in the LP)

“Little Girl” here has been appearing throughout the game at various locations. You can go back and check the LP for confirmed sightings “all along”. This one from waaaay back when we first visited Little Twister was saved until now for the purpose of not drawing too much attention to this creepy creature. Really couldn’t find a way to casually excuse that screenshot. These, however…

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(First Appearance, Issue #8)

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("Above the Alley" at Humphrey's Peak, Issue #21)

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(Randomly part of Janus's monologue, Issue #30)

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(Waiting to oversee the show, Issue #45)

Are some more subtle sightings. Note that she has always appeared during cutscenes or in areas just out of reach. Despite appearing to be a normal NPC, she is never accessible when you actually reach her location.

For the record, her first appearance was before we even met Maya.

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(It's a sound effect, hard to capture in a screenshot LP, Issue #49)

Also, she has a weird little laugh that we heard briefly back in Ruins of Dreams, and will be hearing again more often.

There are also other references to her in the script going back to even before she appeared, but those will become more overtly apparent later.

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And,
somewhat explaining her aloofness, she seems to teleport around the room with ease.

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Malik, you are a man that has been transformed into a bird demon living in an impenetrable fortress. I would be more than “curious” about this gremlin teleporting around.

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… Thanks?

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Does Malik sound differently now that he has a bird-throat. Does… does he have a tongue?

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She’s up!

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But no time for that now, we’re back to our gang and… Hey! It’s that gang!

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They apparently found another secret route into the heavily fortified base. This place has all the defenses of a colander.

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You ever find it weird to hang out with your significant other's family when they're not around?

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We have bested you on four separate occasions when you weren’t missing a team member…

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“Whatever, cat, we got problems.”

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Should we really take an eye off the kid with all the explosives?

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“You’re right. It’s better than trying to figure out how your combat mechanics would work.”

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They didn’t even let us choose which route we wanted…

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Alfred gives us a knowing nod, fully aware that Virginia would do anything for Maya for some reason.

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New dungeon! Kinda!

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Thanks to those blast doors, you cannot leave Cradle of the Metal God. As a concession to anyone that might not be prepared, there is a refill station here at the start that will always max out your HP/VIT. Grind by the free inn if you’ve gotta!

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Note that you are barred from going backwards or following Maya’s family down their route. Sad.

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Only one door available.

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You can tell Siegfried is a caring villain, because his base has guardrails.

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The local monsters are color coded for your convenience.

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The red ones shoot fire.

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The blue ones use ice magic.

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They have names, but… how do you pronounce that? Fire demon, ice demon.

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These might be the most “use fire on the ice dragon” encounters in WA3.

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Our other opponents are Sekmets.

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They are rock demons.

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Are they supposed to look like amphibians? I am getting a Genghis Frog vibe.

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Note that these Battletoads can drop Earth Rings, and any elemental resistance will help you come Abyss time.

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Welcome to the gimmick of this dungeon.

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If you are tagged by a search light, you will have to deal with a random encounter, and then be booted back to the room’s door. So use your tools to effectively avoid lights ‘n fights.

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This next room looks…

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Like random boss time.

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It’s poo! It’s a big pile of poo! Get the talking squirrel in here!

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Ose? Did you mean ‘ooze’?

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This is a very misleading weakness chart.

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Ose uses Evil Gaze, which will paralyze one party member. Either prepare for that, or wait like three turns for them to thaw out.

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The secret of the Ose is that it is completely invulnerable to even the most precise physical attacks. Note that this is not a matter of “dodging”, as even an accurate attack will do zero damage.

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So you must use magic here.

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This is likely a deliberate design decision, as this is the first boss following a door that can only be unlocked by all twelve Guardians. You must have every spell in the game to make it to this boss, so Ose is going to test if you can use those spells.

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Ose is secretly some kind of panther demon.

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So you have two options here: the “obvious” method is just hit ‘em with spells until they’re dead. The other option is to use ice magic, which will solidify Ose, and then you can ravage the cat.

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I stuck to magic in both playthroughs. This is another monster that is weak to Weakness, so you can make it extra vulnerable to an element.

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There’s a good look at the “solid” form.

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Eventually, you flush this Ose.

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This will protect against paralysis. Once again a prize that is a little too late.

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No flippant comment about a sticky security system or anything.

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Going up?

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Once again…

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This dungeon is going to be gated with plot check-ins on the baddies.

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Or a baddy’s mom. She’s getting in some cardio today.

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Poor woman doesn’t even get a name. Can we call her Sammy?

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It’s rough being a clone.

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Bird face killah has no idea why his mom has an issue.

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Back to the normal humans.

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You know how this one goes.

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These switches will reset if you linger long enough, so you cannot just wait forever for lights to get out of the way.

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Not that difficult of a “puzzle” though.

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And then… something happens?

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Probably not our friend, the boy obsessed with explosions.

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Whatever! Not our problem!

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Melody has an issue, though.

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Or… exploded?

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Melody is puttering off, muttering all the while.

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Guess we’ll see her soon enough.

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This is a dungeon that you will never be able to reenter again, so there are no treasure chests. The best we can hope for is a “treasure room” filled with gems.

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Were these the stairs from Malik’s Mom’s run?

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This light is stationary, and there is no way past it to the door.

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So use Clive’s grappler to break the light.

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And we’re good. Note that you could have done this on the previous lights, but this is the first that lateral thinking is required.

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And using the grappling hook here is not the right answer.

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Use Jet’s Radical Sneakers for jumping.

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You must be an adept jumper to make it through this hallway without damage. Mind you, the traps aren’t that lethal if your timing is off.

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And the next room…

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Brings back an old friend.

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Hey, Asgard. Weren’t you carrying around Maya? What happened to her?

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Guess we’ll ask later.

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Oh snap!

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Daddy out of nowhere!

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Were you following us this whole dungeon? … This whole game?

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Virginia is not going to cry. Virginia is not going to cry…

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“Remember the finale for Chapter 2? I hope you do! I know I followed you through hours of sidequests since then!”

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“Okaywhateverhopeyoulivebye.”

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“Sending you good vibes, Daddy!”

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“Were you talking to me?”
“No, Asgard, I’m her literal father.”
“Oh. Yes, that makes sense.”

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Blammo.

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No going back (again).

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Somebody reboot Virginia. She's stuck in that loop again.

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No dialogue skipped here. I guess Clive just wanted to confirm he’s not that Daddy.

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“Straight up nothing kills that guy. And he’s probably a robot anyway.”

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Quick question: did your dad used to have forcefield powers when you were growing up?

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Focus on your girlfriend… focus on your girlfriend…

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Trying to ignore the smell of burning daddy as we go.

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I mentioned this before, but Wild Arms 4 introduced straight up Mario-esque platforming to the franchise. A lot of people were surprised. This nonsense is why I expected it.

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This room contains all sorts of moving platforms, and a switch that must be utilized for opening the exit. Don’t miss it!

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The hit detection here is… frustrating. Falling into the dark doesn't incur any damage, but does reset your position back to the start of the room.

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What even happened there!?

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So glad to be done with this room.

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This looks familiar.

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Ah! The tube room!

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And the tube is empty! We know why.

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Speaking of tubes, that's how I describe youtube.

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This is where Mama was running, right?

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Sucks to be you guys.

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Double sucks to be you guys.

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“So many questions! So many!”

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Malik has gone from bird of prey to cuckoo.

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So Malik apparently killed his clone mother and blew up the inanimate generator that “birthed” her for revenge. I always appreciate a villain that cannot take responsibility.

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And Melody is just confused as all get out.

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Oh, because you’re a shining example of sanity.

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See? If we had just waited, the forcefield would have come down anyway, because Malik had a freakout over his clone mother. Sun Tzu would have predicted this.

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Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays.

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And the gonna get shots.

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It’s Melody’s favorite person!

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Super best friends forever!

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Mondays? Amiright?

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So, for the first time ever, we fight exactly two Prophets at once. It has always only been either one or three before.

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Malik is crazy, Melody is trying to keep it together.

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Unfortunately, there is not any battle-plot synergy here. Malik and Melody will function like they are at their usual levels of sanity. Or maybe that is the point?

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Once again, Malik is a dodge-monster until you slow him down.

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He’s the same old warhawk as usual.

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And he uses the same mix of physical attacks and confusion spells.

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Melody is the same, too.

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So slow down Malik…

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And hammer away.

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“Be a super scientist they said… Everything will work out fine, they said…”

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Melody is countering everything with poison, so you… Hey. Is anyone going to pick Malik off the floor? No?

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Guess we’ll give him a buddy.

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Maybe because your idea of “beauty” involves “goring horns”.

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Yeah, that’s right, these two knuckleheads give us nothing.

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“Possibly because we shot them a bunch.”

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Real inspirational message for the dying bird person, Virginia.

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And… uh… that’s it. I think Malik is dead now? Maybe we’ll have to use his corpse as part of an upcoming puzzle…

Next time on Wild Arms: You take your eyes off her for five seconds...
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I love that Asgard and Werner have a classic DBZ-style beam-struggle, but without the actual beams. They just pose at each other menacingly.

(also wow yeah I totally forgot how much Malik's mother looked like she was cosplaying Samus. Her hair's a bit long but that is a spot-on Zero Suit.)
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Are your arms sad and limp, or are they wild? Make your decision today, May 25, Dove Day. I love doves. I love to watch them, to feed them, and to eat them... Do I get a triple crown for that?

Chapter 59: Breaking Out

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
Virginia and Maya’s gangs are both infiltrating the enemy stronghold, but it seems like the bad guys are having a bad time of it, too. Malik successfully revived his clone mommy, but she didn’t immediately dote on her son, so he killed her and the main power core for the place. It’s all going downhill from there…

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So we just shot Malik and Melody until they were lying on the floor and not getting back up. While I understand that sounds pretty normal for people being shot, consider that every other fight with those two led to them teleporting away. The implication here seems to be that this was their final death-death. This will be true for one of them...

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They’re in a better place, and all we get is a hallway.

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Back to the normal dungeon nonsense. Even if the baddies lost about half their gang, you should still avoid being spotted.

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Grappling hook remodeling
for the win.

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You cannot reach this switch without venturing into the light, and you cannot get under the lamp to destroy it, either. Play with your doll, Gallows.

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I appreciate a “simple” puzzle that winds up requiring many different tools to conquer marginally different situations.

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Elevator away from this floor. Malik is starting to smell.

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Meanwhile!

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Apparently Melody’s last gasp attempt to save the power core worked, and Leehalt appreciates it.

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“Which chunks of them would you like to have located, sir?”

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Yep, they’re done.

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Literally! Because they’re dead!

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Anywho, time to launch this god machine and destroy the base. Wait! We’re in the base!

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Do I even need to tell you that cool theme music is now playing?

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Remember how Asgard had to deal with Werner? Well guess who used that opportunity…

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There is fencing right over there. You guys could really stand to figure out how cages work.

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Boss vs. Boss fight!

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Amusingly enough, we have not fought Siegfried yet, but this will now be the second time an NPC attacks the big guy. The first time was Janus at the end of Chapter 2, and… that did not end well for Janus.

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Brother, you don’t know Maya.

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So, give or take a HUD, this is a straightforward battle between two rivals.

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Unfortunately, both fighters got inflicted with Blind before the skirmish started, and now everybody is missing their mark.

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We’re going to be here a while. Anybody think to bring snacks?

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Maya brought something! And it’s super effective!

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Virginia just had the weirdest twitch, and she can’t figure out why.

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“By ‘mentally synchronize’ I mean ‘literally pull them out of nowhere’.”

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Oh yeah, Maya has missed the sixty lore dumps that explain how ARMs are leftover demon weapons.

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Remember when I was talking about how there is evidence Maya “should” be the main character? Like she is some kind of chosen one? We’re back to that.

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“Your spiritual strength exceeds those of demons...This allows you to draw out destructive power from within the ARM...This is getting interesting...Please entertain me some more...A hero never dies...As long as he has the will to fight!”

And Siegfried is into it. Please recall that it is canon that demons got to be “demons” because they liked fighting too much.

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And Siegfried pulls out his trump card: he “uses” the Teardrop, and it restores all of his health.

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Was Maya mad at us every time we used a heal berry?

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"It's a shame, really...Not only will the energy from the Teardrop help raise nanomachines, but its sparkle maintains my existence! In other words, the sparkle of this planet becomes my power, and with it, I expel the planet's life force. Oh, the irony! This is like a comedy--with the life force playing the role of the clown! Hwah hah hah hah!"

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Gee, sure is a good thing we gave Siegfried this ultimate power in exchange for absolutely nothing.

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Unfortunately, despite being the rogue archetype, Maya did not dual class in thievery.

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You trying to high five with that claw hand, Sieggy?

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Snacks?

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No snacks.

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Welp, that went poorly.

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Hey! I just remembered that Todd can heal everybody! Maya, you hypocrite!

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Oh, right. More pending matters.

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At least she is rescued in the nick of time.

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We went through… three dungeons and a huge sidequest in that time… so… yeah, sorry.

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Get your team on a more focused cardio regime when you get home, Maya.

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D’aw.

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She’s up!

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Phhht we beat her four times before she finally changed her mind. Siegfried just has one victory so far.

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Kick some ass, Maya.

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The real demon all along has been blonde…

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Meanwhile, back with the less interesting party.

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We have finally reached the “generator room” that has been featured in so many cutscenes.

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You would think someone would have a chair in here or something…

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You figure Leehalt had to solve jumping puzzles every time he left their room?

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These lasers move faster than the last place we saw them, but this is otherwise straightforward.

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Make sure you boomerang this switch over here.

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We done with this place yet?

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Guess we are!

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Why are we suddenly outside? Was this Siegfried’s favorite balcony for singing?

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Difficult to capture: rumbling.

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Hey! Is that Melody down there?

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We have lift off! Or… lifting off…

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Kind of hard to parse the physicality of this place, but it looks like we have been mostly hanging out in the “underground” of this soon-to-be floating castle, and we’ll have to approach the top half later.

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Or maybe this bottom half is completely unexplored? I have never been able to figure out what was with the Black Omen, either.

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Anywho, this castle is popping into the sky, and Melody somehow found herself on the ground floor right in the way of the launch jets.

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Which… is not a good place to be.

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So Melody apparently survived our last fight, but she ain’t surviving this.

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And we might be joining her.

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Yeah, I guess we’ve been exploring the “launch pad” this whole time… even though I really can’t see how we’re “there” and outside at the same time…

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But since the forcefield is going down…

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Bang the Flammie Drum.

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Last of the dragons, and she is supposed to come when called by some purple girl?

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She’s doing this, but only because she was bored standing around for that whole dungeon.

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“Hey guys. Have a good afternoon?”

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Maybe it is like a multistage rocket? Like this part is going to fall off as it ascends?

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Whatever, we’re safe now.

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Or… not.

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Alternative dragon out of nowhere!

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So now we have…

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Our first mandatory air battle. It is possible you could have already experienced air battles thanks to the UFO sidequest at this point, but this is the first time it is required.

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So air battles: basically Vehicle Battle Part 2. Despite noting that this is not exactly like a sandcraft fight, it is still pretty similar.

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Lombardia gets four actions per “round”, one for each party member. However, every party member has the exact same choices of “Lombardia moves”. And each character’s stats do impact their “Lombardia” turns. So, basically, Clive turns will hit harder but happen later (because he is strong and slow), while Virginia turns will have more effective magic and happen earlier in the round (because she has higher magic and speed stats).

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So the trick is to know your party well enough to combine their best stats with matching Lombardia moves.

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Also, Lombardia’s opponent here is just… Dark Lombardia. Nobody felt like designing a second transformer for this game.

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So what are Lombardia’s options? Well, there’s the basic attack-attack, of course. And then we have “Missile Might”, which I think is more magic-based, but is difficult to gauge either way. “Use this to do basic damage”.

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Epidermal Shell will increase your defense. Maybe this is relevant on some sort of low level run, but Lombardia has an absurd HP count, and I would be curious to see how long it would take for her to actually run out of health points, defense maxed or not…

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Mighty Might was mentioned during the UFO update, but noting again that it maxes out your attack for the penalty of eventually putting you in a paralysis state for a few turns. But the drawback doesn’t matter if your enemy is dead by the time MM wears off…

Cerebral Matter ups your magic attack. I have never used it.

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Self-Regeneration is there if you want to waste Virginia's turn restoring like 5% of Lombardia's health.

And Draconic Gun Blaster is the Lombardia ultimate attack. It drains all of your FP, but it kills damn near everything.

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Particularly if you use Mighty Might first.

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A move so powerful, it reveals the world map for some reason.

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And that’s that. In general, every Lombardia fight is a matter of buffing on Virginia’s turn, gaining some extra FP on Gallows and Jet’s turns, and then unleashing the DEATH LASER on Clive’s turn. Do that, and you’re golden.

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More of a reward than those stupid UFOs…

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I like the idea that Lombardia is just here and hanging with the party, happy to be involved in the conversation for once.

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Yeah, we never saw anybody actually leave. We’re the only cool kids with a dragon escape route.

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So anybody want to take a wild guess on our next dungeon?

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Here’s a preview!

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“Take it nice and slow to start. Gotta get a feel for the place.”

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This is some doomsday wizbiz, and I'm not certain a single NPC ever notices...

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Also, is Siegfried just shouting at Leehalt? The guy that is three feet in front of him? I don’t see any other toadies left…

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Bet you miss your M&Ms about now…

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So Siegfried was as good as his word…

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Until we beat the next dungeon, the sky is crowded with Wyverns, and we have to repeat that last “boss battle” if we initiate any air random battles.

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It is the exact same fight over and over again, and it is easy to cancel the encounter. That said, if you want to clear out a few Wyverns, go ahead. Aside from the UFO sidequest, this is the only point in the game where there are air encounters. Enjoy it. Question mark?

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Just for your own sanity, you do not want to be doing the UFO sidequest at this exact point in the game. The skies will be less crowded in the near future.

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So while wannabe dragons darken the skies, let’s take a quick break back at Baskar. It’s good to have a rest after two continuous dungeons and three boss fights!

Next time on Wild Arms: Our finest arts.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I vaguely remember Melody's death. Really weird to have her survive the battle just to kill her off in a cutscene where the party doesn't even notice her.

"Do you see me now, Clive? No? Dammit, Leehalt turn off the engines until Clive is looking this way so he can appreciate my beautiful dramatic death!"
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Where does the time go? Maybe it goes straight to today, June 1, Radio Wave Day. Catch those radio waves today and protect them. Even if your neighbors come protesting, you must entertain your radio waves with steak and lobster.

Chapter 60: Breaking the Game

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
We raided an enemy stronghold to rescue Maya, and… Crap, we never did liberate her, did we? And now that enemy stronghold is flying, which only complicates matters. Man, this main plot has been going on for a while… Can we take a break?

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Actually, let’s do that! We’re going to take care of the “last” of the optional content available in Chapter 3 today. First up on the docket: chickens.

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Unlike previous Wild Arms titles, you have all of your tools before the end-end of the game this time. Both Wild Arms (1) and Wild Arms 2 hid tools in their final dungeons, and that is… less than conducive to ever seeing those tools used globally. Meanwhile, Virginia got the final tool for the party during the last dungeon. And now we can use it everywhere.

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If you’ve been using the radar in every town, you would have noticed how animals are frequently “targeted” by the radar like treasure, but you had no way to get a chicken or a cat to hand over the goods. Now, if you use Virginia’s Changecrest on a radar-indicated animal, it will change into an item. Oftentimes, these items are high-level consumables, so it is worth it to revisit old towns. None of these item-animals appear in dungeons, so the hardest treasure to find would be the change-chicken at Green Lodge. We covered that one a couple updates back during Part 55.

Also, I really don’t like considering the implications of transforming a living animal into an anonymously consumable carrot…

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Other things
we can do now that we have every tool…

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The change-blocks in the basement of the Ark of Destiny are now toast.

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There are three duplicator-locked doors past the barrier.

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The treasures here are not that exciting…

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But you got to check off those boxes sometime.

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And that’s every last treasure at the Ark of Destiny recovered.

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Also, you can use the Changecrest on Bombur (see Part 51)…

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Bombur disappears and transforms into the Missanga, which is an accessory that will up your luck. If you are curious, transforming Bombur does not impact his (optional) boss fight at all, as he will respawn like normal if you exit and reenter the room.

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Where else can we score some delayed treasure…

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Sand Canal, that atrocious dungeon with the Huskarls and moving blocks…

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Had a big switch near its exit. Any time after grabbing the Radical Sneakers you can return and…

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Jump into some more treasure. Nine Lives will activate SOS Auto Guard, which can theoretically save you some damage when your HP is low. But if your HP is already low, you might not survive a guarded-hit anyway…

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And next up…

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Fallen Sanctuary is the most visited dungeon in Wild Arms 3. It was the first dungeon for Gallows, then we had to return with a full party to capture the initial Guardians, and then we had to come back four additional times to battle the Guardian Lords. Those trips were all mandatory! We are very familiar with this nonsense!

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But all those Guardian visits didn’t require venturing too far into the dungeon. This time, we are going nearly as deep as Gallows did way back at his introduction.

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Here we are. The one door we couldn’t open with just Gallows.

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And it will still be a team effort. Use the Changecrest on the nearby VIT Gems…

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And then use Clive’s Mighty Gloves to move one onto the switch.

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And treasure room!

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Migrant Seals are arguably the most important treasures in Wild Arms 3, and one is hidden deep in this early dungeon after a puzzle you are very likely to forget…

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And Ambrosia is the consumable item that will restore your whole party’s HP in one use. No, you cannot farm it at the Secret Garden. Ambrosia does not grow on trees!

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A more recent dungeon that hid treasure was The World’s Footprint, that museum dungeon we visited with Shane at the start of this chapter.

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No time for murals now!

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This odd structure is early in the dungeon.

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Once again, Changecrest plus Mighty Gloves is an equation that equals success.

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And another Migrant Seal is our main reward. We’ve got 19 out of 20 now!

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Oh snap! We’re at Rank 19! We can read ultra-porn now!

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You think I’m kidding?

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If you recall, the Leyline Observatory had a great number of books. The “Adult Mag” was always something on one of the shelves in the basement, but we were told we needed to “be 18” to read the book.

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Now we’re 19, jerk. Open up!

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… After I give Gallows the Fiery Rage medium, of course.

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Okay! Now we’re ready! Don’t give me the fine print, give me the goods!

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Always gotta be a fight with some periodicals…

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This is another optional boss fight. Unlike every other “super boss” in Wild Arms 3, the challenge here is that you are facing twelve (12) simultaneous opponents. That is the most thingies you can ever fight in this game!

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Also, someone went to town on designing the Adult Mag. Can we get a closeup here?

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(click for a larger version you are welcome to try to translate)

It has comic sans font? It must die.

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The Wild Arms 3 battle system is, more or less, not designed for this many opponents. Waiting for 16 actions to take place during a round (12 + 4 allies) takes for freakin’ ever. You want this fight to be over in a round, so feel free to have Virginia Mystic a Full Carrot to grant everyone 100 FP at the start of this fight.

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Then you have to wait through 12 book actions, and hope they don’t kill your money maker. The Adult Mags have three possible actions: Agony Effect is their only straightforward attack…

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Then there is Grav, which will halve one character’s HP…

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Or they can “Melancholy Pose”, which means they do not do a thing. The AI here appears to be random, so the best (though statistically improbable) scenario is seeing twelve Melancholy Poses all in an ineffectual row.

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So here is a possibility: the Adult Mags all gang up on somebody. What you are looking at here is Gallows untouched, Wirginia and Clive took a couple lumps, and then literally every other Adult Mag attacked Jet. Here he is with 12 HP just before the last book used Agony Effect to finish him off. Maybe the AI isn’t random…

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After the Adult Mags all had their turns, it was time for Gallows to vaporize these losers.

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Like every other book-type enemy in Wild Arms 3, these mags are weak to fire. And, as we learned at the coliseum, the only way to target more than a handful of enemies at a time is to use a Guardian summon. So the solution here is to take your most powerful mage (Gallows), equip “Weakness” so any elemental weaknesses do 4x damage, make sure he has 100 FP, summon Moor Gault the phoenix-dragon, and then sit back and enjoy your private showing of Fahrenheit 451. In the rare situation that this doesn’t instantly obliterate the mags, juggle your mediums so Jet or Virginia then start the next round by summoning the same firebird. That should do the trick.

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“Hey, Jet! Did you see that? Jet...?”

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The reason you do this quest is to earn Adventure 10, the final book for Clive’s daughter. Of course, we haven’t found #8 or #9 yet…

Also: never tell her we found this in a porno.

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And that’s that for the Adult Mag. The whole party has different reactions to the “book” if you try to read it again.

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Virginia has mixed feelings!

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Let’s get out of this basement, and back to playing with ARMs. To be clear, with all the tools that will ever be available now in your possession, you can find every treasure that was ever “missed” in earlier dungeons/towns. There are still some treasures available in future “plot dungeons”, but we are basically past the concept of backtracking now (give or take cashing in a few late game rewards).

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So with that done, we are stopping over at an ARMsmeister so we can play with Clive’s loadout. Clive has incredible attack, but a very limited ammo count. For most of the game, we have been happily using Clive’s Gungnir HAG35 with a two bullet upgrade, so he would always have four shots ready to go. Now we are downgrading back to a mere two bullets for some reason…

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We are also going whole hog on shot damage.

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Oh! We get a trophy on the PS4/5 version for fully upgrading an ARM. It’s Level 15 now, no more upgrades. If we wanted to downgrade and respec, we would have to initialize that costly Level 15 Shot upgrade all the way back down to zero. That would make me cry.

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Now for the main event: We found the Violator during the last dungeon. This accessory “increases the power of a combination attack”. That is the only explanation we are given for Finest Arts.

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Finest Arts requires 8 PS points to be max level. We still have no explanation of what is happening here, though. Does the combination attack get stronger with more points? 8 total points is not that much in the grand scheme of Wild Arms 3 skill point allocation.

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So here is the deal with Finest Arts: it never, ever has a greater explanation than what you have seen in the previous screenshots, and the “trick” here is that you basically have to sus it out yourself to “use it”… or check a FAQ/strategy guide. There is never a helpful NPC, tutorial, or scenario that overtly explains (or even hints) at how exactly Final Arts works.

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So whether it is a mistranslation or something deliberately vague, the “combination attack” from the description is Gatling. Let’s see what happens if we use Gatling with 100 FP and Finest Arts equipped.

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It… didn’t activate. ATT Plus worked, but no little triangle in the corner for Finest Arts. Sure seems like that was pointless.

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Now let’s try something different: use up all of Clive’s bullets.

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Clive does not have any ammo left.

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Now, against every principle of how this battle system works, we are going to use Gatling without our ARM. This is going to be a purely “physical” attack, because Clive has not reloaded. This will also “waste” our hard-earned 100 FP, which feels totally contrary to everything we have ever learned about Force Point management.

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And now Finest Arts activates, hits five times, and does nearly 90,000 damage. The previous “normal” Gatling barely broke 23,000.

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So how exactly does Finest Arts work? First of all, you must have 100 FP, which obviously doesn’t happen immediately in any battle (unless you’re level 100). Then, you must be completely out of ammo. Finest Arts will not activate if you have even one bullet left. After that, you will perform five attacks: four are based on your character’s regular attack, but the fifth will do consistent damage from an equation. The final hit calculation is based on the character’s level. With maximum points in Finest Arts, the final hit will do Level x 1,000 damage. So a level 72 character will hit for 72,000 HP with the final hit. And every one of the four initial hits can be influenced by ATT Plus or enemy defense, but the final hit will always do the guaranteed “calculated damage” hit regardless of other factors.

So, yes, by a significant margin, Finest Arts is the greatest attack in the game. There is literally no other way in Wild Arms 3 to do that much damage in a single round.

By and large, I kind of like this setup, as you gain this ability about 70% of the way through the game, and you have a lot of time to figure it out and utilize it. That said, my only complaint is that this move is absolutely required for Ragu o Ragala at the bottom of the Abyss, and you technically don’t need to know it through the other three hours of The Abyss, so it is kind of a jerk move that it is mandatory at exactly the end of the longest dungeon. Or you could just never use it, and watch that boss fight take three hours all by itself…

Anywho, Finest Arts is the undisputed win button of Wild Arms 3, and it all but instantly kills everything. Seriously! There are three (or four, depending on if you count Ragu as two bosses or one) super bosses that seem to be built “for” Finest Arts, and everything else barely survives one usage. A number of Wild Arms 3 FAQs read “You have the Violator now? Great! The solution to this boss is use Finest Arts,” from this point on.

Mind you, within the LP, you’ve already seen its “three” uses. Now that Lord Marduk, Bad News, and Ragu are in the ground, I do not need Finest Arts for any other fights.

It may make a few battles go faster, though…

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And yes, the previous captures were on the “low level” normal run (which, since I have been hammering super bosses, hasn’t been “low level” for a while). Here is Clive using Finest Arts when he is Level 100.

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100,000 damage on top of four other hits. That’s a spicy meatball!

So that’s Finest Arts.

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Since we still have a little time left on the clock, let’s look at something else that is never explained in Wild Arms 3. Virginia’s Mystic is usually used to spread an item around. You can use Mystic to target your entire party with a live saving Heal Berry, or target an entire enemy group with an elemental gem attack. You’ve got options!

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But Mystic also has weird uses with other items. For instance, any of the accessories that prevent status effects will heal those same status effects when used with Mystic. For 25 FP, you can heal exactly one person of poison by using a Moonstone. Why would you ever use that same 25 FP to Mystic an Antidote to heal everybody of poison!?

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… Okay, it would never make sense to use the accessory, but I guess it could work in a pinch if you had Moonstones lying around, but no antidotes. At least the moonstone doesn’t get “used up” like a normal item.

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Why am I just having Clive use a basic attack? Keep reading, true believers!

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The elemental rings are also available for Mystic use.

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Mystic + Elemental Ring is arguably the easiest way to confer an elemental property to someone’s ARM. The actual spell that allows you to do this requires the user to be equipped with a medium that has the same element, so usually there must be some medium juggling to be effective. Also: the spell is not available until Chapter 3 at the earliest. Here, you just need to have one elemental ring in your inventory, and then Virginia can pick and choose who gets what buff immediately. And you can start finding elemental rings as early as the second (full party) dungeon.

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And now here’s Clive hitting that same monster with an attack plus its elemental weakness. It makes a difference! Note that the Weakness ability only works with attack spells, not elemental buffs, so it will not stack with this damage.

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And I couldn’t use this initial test for comparison, because a critical hit pumps it up to the damage cap!

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Virginia’s Mystic can also be used with key items that we have acquired and lost over the course of the game. This is a flashback to Ka Dingel (LP parts 12-13), when we were transporting the demon mask Andro Seal we had received from Maya.

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It casts a dark elemental attack. You cannot have a dark magic spell until Chapter 3, so getting to use one back in Chapter 1 is great.

… If you know you can use it at all, of course…

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That is basically the only way to acquire Dark Gems early in the game, too. Could come in handy!

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Other key items that can be used with Mystic are the Teardrop (briefly in your inventory during The Ruins of Memory) and Kizim Fire (in your inventory only after Faraway Lands and then during your first trek to Ark of Destiny). In this case, they cast a simple Cure and Fire spell (respectively), which you can already use through other means at those points in the game. More of an easter egg than anything.

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And… Let’s see here… What else is there to do…

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I guess we could kill a sea serpent. Again.

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You may recall we fought Balal Quo Naga until it ran away. If you speak to NPCs or read some books, they will reveal that the location where we fought Balal Quo Naga was its new home, and their old home was this oddly shaped rock off the coast of Little Twister. Given we never liked Balal Quo Naga, we’re going to shoot some missiles at their rock.

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Nail the sand a few times, and this… something or other will start happening. It’s… like… sand spewing? A sand geyser?

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Whatever. Let’s get the sandcraft to investigate. One flight back to a nearby beach later…

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Been there, done that.

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“Which answer is going to get me into a fight? It’s the ‘no’, right?”

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We know about this monster because we already killed it once…

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Here is Balal Quo Naga II: The Revenge. This fight is entirely optional, and can be completed as soon as you have Lombardia. This is theoretically the “final exam” for your sandcraft, as this is the most powerful monster you can fight in a boat.

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I’m sure Balal’s stats are very lovely and all…

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But I have places to be, lady.

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Once again: if you bought the best cannon, and use “Fire all ammo at once”…

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This bullet serpent ain’t gonna last a round. Mario is avenged forever!

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I… have no idea what they were thinking here. The sandcraft combat is so shallow, the designers apparently could not find a significant way to separate this “most powerful” fight from the story mandatory battle. As a result, Balal Quo Naga goes out like a chump. Again.

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And our reward is experience, gella, and an EX File Key.

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And the seas are safe to sail once again.

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Incidentally, there is a trophy in Wild Arms 3 for dealing greater than 50,000 damage in a single hit. This would be an impressive feat with an ARM, but it happens almost automatically in sandcraft fights. The above capture is from before we completed Chapter 2.

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Okay! That’s it for the optional stuff available in Chapter 3! Mostly! We’ll cover every last bit eventually, but now we’re going to get back on the main plot path...

Next time on Wild Arms: Randi and the gang fly into the Mana Fortress to save Dyluck and take down Thanatos once and for all.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Not to get too in-depth on how the sausage is made, but the making of this Let's Play has a very clear "steps" process:

1. Play and record the game on the Playstation 2.
2. Go over every individual frame on a PC, and dice up the screenshots/GIFs. In general, one "chunk" of gameplay (usually a dungeon and its surrounding cutscenes) is addressed while watching two (2) movies, so about 3ish hours per chunk. This yields between 100-450 (!) shots, depending on the length of the dungeon and its plot.
3. Play the same section of the game on the Playstation 5, this time with an eye on capturing anything I missed the first time.
4. Grab those screenshots, which is usually a quicker/more focused process.
5. Separate the shots into chapters of approximately 80-125 screenshots, and then write about 'em.

And I am noting this process because as of yesterday evening, I have now transformed the entire game of Wild Arms 3 into screenshots. Steps 1-4 for the entirety of Wild Arms 3 is now complete, and all that is left is to write the remaining chapters.

... And there's about 20 more of 'em, so we're going to be here a while.

But still!

And we have reached this milestone on June 8, Sea Cucumber Day. A legendary hero defeated a giant sea cucumber. A fearless glutton ate the sliced sea cucumber raw. Which one is more courageous? Every year, a grand debate is held on this day to discuss this proposition.

Chapter 61: Damsels & Dragons

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
We took a brief respite to find every last available treasure in the world, and now we are returning to our regularly scheduled Maya-rescuing.

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So the bad guys launched their flying base, and… where is that thing?

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You don’t have to do this, but the technical solution involves…

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Stopping at Ballack Rise, the only “optional” town in the game.

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They have a telescope here, and it finally comes in handy for potentially scoping out the enemy base.

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Unfortunately, the clue is all but useless. The “invisible” castle is indeed difficult to see, but exact coordinates would be better than “it shimmers like a pony”.

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Whatever. Grab some treasure while you’re here if you missed it on the first trip.

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There is our shimmer. This thing can appear anywhere in the world, as far as I have been able to tell.

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It was definitely in two different places across two different playthroughs. Compare the two above screenshots to try to triangulate a location.

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Smacking into the shimmer
does nothing.

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Those demons do love their barriers…

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So launch some missiles!

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That’s the stuff.

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Destroy all wizardry!

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We’re going in, hoss!

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If you made a beeline for this dungeon immediately after the denouement of the last dungeon, this should look familiar.

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Stupid, lazy nanomachines.

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Siegfried has a random thought…

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“And by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’ because all my friends are now dead thanks to following you, my liege.”

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I say the same thing about my computer science degree.

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Someone… or something… has derailed Siegfried’s train of thought…

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“If no other demons aside from myself were summoned, then that means this person descended to Filgaia by their own power through Hyades. Could that be possible...? One must have their personal data stored within Hyades to do that...”

Siegfried is afraid there has been a rival demon stalking around, ruining his plans…

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Whatever Siegfried is thinking, Leehalt is ready and willing to agree with it immediately.

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What could it…

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Oh! That crash he hears means we arrived.

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Not a subtle gang of drifters…

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“Virginia, this is better. It feels more… Star Wars.”

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Gross. The demons never even thought to clean up the place.

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We have seen these “webs” before in places that the Prophets had already ransacked.

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Instead of “gray goo”, Wild Arms 3 goes with something out of an Adult Mag.

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Guess we’ll leave our dragon to wait here.

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Deux Ex Machina, the final dungeon of Chapter 3, starts now!

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Unless you want to leave…

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Once again, we are dealing with a dungeon that will not last past our visit, so there will be no treasure chests here.

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Monsters are plentiful, though.

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Bandersnatch has guillotines for arms.

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Bandersnatch is a trap. They are weak to every element, but have a permanent reflect-protection barrier.

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So get Final Fantasy 4 on their asses.

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If you cast reflect over your party.

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They will suicide from a bounce within the round.

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Jabberwock is our typical weak-to-ice lizard monster.

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Not much to write about a heaving lizard.

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I guess fire breath is remotely notable.

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So, yeah. Use ice.

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Quox is a recolor of the monster that capped off Clive’s tutorial dungeon. Like that creature, if its health gets low, it will fly to dramatically increase its evasion.

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Appropriate the Clive got a sneak attack from this thing…

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Ice is also the answer here. Remember back when Clive didn’t have magic at all?

And that's it for the common monsters of this overly long dungeon.

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The traps of this area are once again laser based. There are many ways to stop these mobile barriers, but bombs feel good.

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You can also get creative with the physics of Wild Arms 3. I feel like this is how a cat would “solve” this puzzle.

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Next, we have a reminder that the changecrest exists.

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You can hold off on clearing the blocks immediately to use a jump plate to get up on top and…

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Nab, like, five white gems. You know in a proper dungeon that this would be a treasure chest.

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Let’s not waste (anymore) time.

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Timing puzzle!

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This walkway is more mobile than we like to see, so properly time a galecrest usage to zoom along.

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Don’t forget the switch to open the door!

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More lasers. Excellent security system for this enemy base that houses two (2) whole people (demons).

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Blammo.

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We also have familiar Yggdrasil architecture here with stairways that have no puzzles so there are excuses for monster encounters.

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Anytime there isn’t a laser on screen, you should be asking where the lasers at.

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What did we ever do before villain dialogue interludes?

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So apparently Siegfried was ruminating on “dream demons” earlier.

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“So it’s not a series of tubes?”

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Basically, Hyades is a series of electrical impulses like the human brain is a series of electrical impulses, so “dream demons” can freely move back and forth between the two. This is why any decent tech will warn you not to fall asleep while on the internet.

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“So all of our problems have been caused by a dream demon? Sure. Whatever. Keeps my head off the chopping block.”

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The good news is that dream demons are more or less true to their names, and can only exist in dreams/demon internet. Siegfried has a real, big-boy body, so nothing to fear.

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Don’t worry about dream demons Siegfried. Focus on the things you love.

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And hate.

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All glory to the monster hand!

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Meanwhile…

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Something is happening!

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Virginia is prepared for anything…

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Even… love?

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This counts as rescuing! It totally counts! Everybody write that one down! We have a clear win!

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“Are they gonna make out?”
“Jet, are you stupid? Of course they’re going to make out.”

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“Are they gonna make out?”
“Alfred, are you stupid? Of course m’lady is going to make out.”

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Virginia has not smiled like that since the last time Maya was on screen and across from her. This is not a joke.

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A good damsel rescues herself.

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Nobody tell her we already saw her fail at that once…

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That’s right, girl, play it cool.

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Remember how we found her book back at the Dissection Facility?

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I cannot believe I did not pick up on this innuendo when I played Wild Arms 3 twenty years ago…

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Virginia is gradually easing into wearing the pants in this relationship.

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Maya can switch with the best of ‘em.

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Weird! I just looked up the word “sapphic” in the dictionary, and this GIF was used as the example.

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Ditch the rest of those losers. Make this the Virginia ‘n Maya show for a dungeon. You know you want to.

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Let’s claim we have an eight-person party for the next thirty seconds.

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Computer room.

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I feel like a place this important should have more lasers…

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Not much we can do there, though.

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But…

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Looks like Maya has an idea.

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Let’s see here…

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So we just reunited, but we are immediately separating because it apparently takes four people to work the locks in this place.

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Glad to see Maya’s captivity did not change her one iota.

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“Just cast ice magic on any lizards you see. I think your cat can handle that.”

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Incidentally, this is the first and last time in Wild Arms 3 you can simply “talk” to the family.

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For a fun bit of esoterica, you can use the Name Tag item to change the display names of any the Schrodingers. Call Alfred “Scrimbo” from now on for all anybody cares.

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Shady reconfirms why you won’t get a playable Schrodinger-based side mission.

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… She’s just going to shoot it, isn’t she?

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Legitimately, we have been working together for nearly this entire chapter.

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So if we leave the room…

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And then immediately return…

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Maya changed! She read the instructions, and now she kind of has a school uniform/glasses thing going on. I’ve seen some people claim that this outfit is the “true” Maya, but she distinctly notes that she just read the manual, so this “nerd chic” is probably what happens when she gets technical.

If you’re curious, we’ll see these duds up close in a later cutscene. Revisiting this room right now is not required, and marginally an easter egg.

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Weirdly, Alfred will help you save here. Given you (almost) always have the option of using a Gimel Coin, it is unusual that Wild Arms 3 provides a distinct “save point” in a dungeon.

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And Todd is a living inn for the remainder of the dungeon. So it is worth it to stop back if you’re tired.

Shady, being a cat, provides nothing.

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Now for a brief test on if you understand your controller.

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You must “input the same command sequence as Maya”. From a practical perspective, this just means you must press the buttons displayed within ten seconds. There is only one short sequence generated, but it is random. If you mess up, you just have to do it again.

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Nothing to worry about, though.

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Okay! Enough socializing! Time to move on up.

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Those weirdos back in the command room could never handle this many switches.

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Three big blocks and one little block must be moved to their proper positions here.

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Obviously, the trick is to keep track of the little block. You can use your imagination and object permanence to visualize exactly how this puzzle is completed.

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Moving on, the next room has a projectile/conveyer belt puzzle.

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You must hit each of the three switches with the boomerang, but each progressive switch makes the belt move faster. Try to figure out which of these switches is easiest to hit as a moving target.

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And then use bombs to hit additional moving targets.

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Is the whole floor covered in nanomachines? This is the grossest dungeon.

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Whoops, random boss fight.

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Aw, it is one of Sieggy’s pet dragons.

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Who was it that beat Fafnir? Sigurd? I’m sure that’s not relevant to anything.

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Overcompensating for something, Fafnir?

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At least this stat screen is more interesting than your usual “no weaknesses, no strengths”.

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So, once again, this is a trick.

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If you do hit the Wind weakness, Fafnir will counter with Fafnir Horn, a very powerful electric attack. You can either account for this with a Thunder resistance, or simply not hit the weakness.

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Other than that, Fafnir doesn’t have any interesting abilities save Contaminated Crust. This is the same move that was used by Power Trask, and it will gradually reduce your HP every round regardless of any defenses/wards. Presumably, the ticking clock of Contaminated Crust is meant to bait you into hitting Fafnir’s weakness, thus incurring that wrathful counter.

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But Fafnir doesn’t have a fraction of the defensive power of Power Trask, so there isn’t much to worry about with the perma-poison.

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So hunt another dragon to extinction.

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Go blow your horn elsewhere.

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Yeah, that’s right I get a dragon fossil out of your corpse.

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Alright, we rescued (“rescued”) Maya and slayed a dragon. I think we’re good to take a little break.

Next time on Wild Arms: Secret origins revealed!
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
So at this point we're just mashing a Virginia doll and a Maya doll together and telling them to kiss, right?

Also wow what a silly thing for Siggy to be afraid of . 'Dream Demons', foolish concept, certainly won't be relevant.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
So at this point we're just mashing a Virginia doll and a Maya doll together and telling them to kiss, right?

The dolls are clearly kissing when nobody is looking.

But there shall be no kissing today, June 15, Dog Day. Dogs are so cute. I love dogs running around in circles, chasing their own tail. When I run in circles, I get strange looks from people, so I have to stop.

Chapter 62: All About Adam

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
We finally rescued Maya! Mostly! We’re still stuck in the enemy base looking for Siegfried, but at least she is no longer actively kidnapped. Oh! And we beat a dragon, too! What could be next on our quest through this flying castle?

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If you answered, “boring hallways,” you have been paying attention!

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Continuing the grand tradition of “sorta platforming”, we now have some grappling hook “puzzles”.

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Hit a switch to get this thing moving.

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Be careful! When dismounting a grapple, Clive moves one square forward. If you are facing perpendicular to this skinny platform, you are probably going to toss yourself into the abyss.

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Go with the flow.

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The whole party is showing,
so something is going to happen.

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We found… an orb?

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A sticky orb.

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Thank you, Dr. Maxwell.

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It is suggested that we get explosive on this thing, but someone stops by to object.

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Dammit! That’s the one thing we don’t want to have happen.

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They are only 74% mature, but “only” is a bit of a weasel word.

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Shucks, no.

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Welp, no other way to solve this problem. Guess we’ll roll over and die.

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Always shoot the messenger.

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So we get a boss fight with Leehalt prattling on about his evolution schtick.

… Hey, wait, aren’t those other two already dead?

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Virginia, obviously, objects to this whole scene.

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“Okay, you, you idiot.”

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Oh, finally time for the big “reveal”?

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Remember how it has been stated, like, seventy times that there is an overt link between “demons” and the “humans” of today?

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“A long time ago...Far, far away...existed the planet, Terra; home of the neosapiens...Technology flourished by leaps and bounds, evolving the planet. The people of Terra were no exceptions to this evolution...Their desire for limitless power and everlasting life caused them to outstep the boundaries of living organisms...by using nanomachines to merge with machines.”

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I am not kidding that Shane already told us this, but it looks like nobody was paying attention.

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Gee, where have we heard of that fusion before?

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“Indeed...Our forefathers rode the immigrant ship to reach Filgaia...These neosapiens are the very demons that appear in folklore!”

Seriously, I know I am playing this game over again (twice), but is there anyone that reached this point and found this to be a surprise? It is all but outright stated repeatedly before this point.

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Well, it’s a surprise to Virginia, at least.

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Search your feelings, you know this to be a boss battle.

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So Leehalt went ahead and cloned his dead buddies for the exclusive purpose of them being fighting puppets. Given the whole “make a clone” thing was Malik’s whole deal, this is not unprecedented.

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The clones are not quite as powerful as their original versions. As an obvious example, Malik Clone does not have his traditional super speed, so you do not need to cast Decelerate to hit him.

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They still have many of the original’s other abilities, though.

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Leehalt basically needed to bring his buddies, because his whole counter ability is super boring when he’s the only opponent.

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Is it supposed to be a plot point how easily Leehalt’s cronies are replaced after their noteworthy deaths? Or is it just a gameplay cheat to have one last significant Prophet battle? Both?

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This time, Leehalt can counter and use a piddling regular attack, too.

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Complete with the clones being weaker, this fight seems to be a deliberate reminder that you have leveled up since the Prophets were first introduced, and now they are just kind of sad. Blast ‘em into next week.

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Don’t forget your poison wards, though!

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Amusingly enough, the clones are never acknowledged. The party is not surprised to see them, and Leehalt never calls attention to his spare buddies.

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Anyway, same strategy as ever. Be careful with being too powerful, and letting Leehalt get a full-counter that wipes somebody out. Since Wild Arms 3 has that gameplay feature where a character dead at the end of a battle means they permanently lose maximum HP (well, permanently until they stay at an inn), you want to keep them on their feet before the real boss battle of this place.

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Using Lifedrain seems appropriate today.

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Camera doesn’t even care to focus on this guy.

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Are you still talking?

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Ugh, whatever. Man was the real demon all along. I know! I have a twitter!

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Come to think of it, the world of Wild Arms 3 is pretty peaceful. This is a planet with extremely limited resources, but the only “people” we have ever seen rob a neighboring town was the Gobs from Virginia’s opening. And they are literally monsters.

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“Could a demon pull off this much purple?”

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“Seriously! Malik turned into a bird! That’s friggen weird!”

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So that was our last Prophet fight for reasons that should be obvious. As usual, these guys go out like a wet fart.

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I guess the clones just dissolved into goo or something.

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“How’s that workin’ out for ya?”

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Virginia has been consistently speechifying the prophets to death.

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Oh! Right! We completely forgot about Leehalt’s creepy fixation on Virginia’s mom.

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Gallows desperately trying to remember who Ekatrina was…

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“Yeah, you keep my mom’s name out of your blue mouth.”

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“Possibly while walking over Leehalt.”
“… I’m into that…”
“Shut-up.”

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We have a brief respite where we have control again. Talk to Leehalt to hear him muttering about demons again.

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Clive, what are you going on about?

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We should probably check out this whole nanomachine situation.

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She didn’t think this console had a communications feature, Virginia just likes shouting out to Maya when confused.

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Maya apparently cannot stop the nanomachines back at her control room. Her suggestion is… predictable.

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“Do we have literally any other solutions to our problems?”

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Is anyone here in this Old West setting a computer programmer?

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Oh, right! Werner shouted something about that before he fought Asgard for the hundredth time.

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Under normal circumstances, if your hand glows green after touching a keyboard, you probably need to grab a disinfectant.

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“Uh… green hand? Totally normal thing. Nothing to worry about.”

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He doesn’t have any memories, remember? If you don’t know about it, he doesn’t know about it.

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“So… can you do it again?”

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Even Maya is jumping up Jet’s ass.

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What the what?

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Uh… sure it does.

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It is a plot point that Jet painted his gun black to be cooler, and that bamboozled the bad guys.

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“I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. My name is Jet, stupid."

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“Oh, just a reminder? We were terrible at our jobs. That will be relevant again.”

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Like the demon explanation, all of this has been heavily foreshadowed since back at the ol’ Prophet Lab a million updates ago. However, in this case, it was a little more subtle.

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Basically, the planet they are living on is a living organism, and it used to be better.

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So the idea was to… I don’t know… make a dude out of the planet. I’m sure it made sense at the time.

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And one of the not-surviving council members, Elliot Enduro, lost a child (I like to assume Melody accidentally poisoned him), so he made the “Filgaia sample” look like his lost son, because that makes some kind of sense.

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“Am I a tree?”

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Yggdrasil was exploding, and Werner was like “let’s grab the surly looking kid in the tube”.

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Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

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So that is all a longwinded explanation for why Jet can directly interface with some of these environment-based computer devices. He is identified as “the planet” by the systems, so he gets admin access.

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And then Jet gets really mad when Leehalt claims that this was all Werner’s plan from Jet’s birth.

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I mean, Werner did raise Jet and teach him how to use his unique ARM, so.. uh… Jet’s life really is all Werner’s doing…

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Ain’t no planet-person gonna get Leehalt down.

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Oh? An RPG villain calling a protagonist with fractured memories a puppet? How novel.

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“Welp, that’s it for me. Leehalt out!”

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Did Jet do that? Or did Leehalt just self-destruct? Or was it a delayed reaction to our fight? One way or another, we should take responsibility.

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Anyway, Jet did his job.

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I like to believe Clive just plain dislikes Jet, and is using this opportunity to be a jerk.

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“Well, any more bitter than usual.”

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“I am basically an infant. You are all monsters for making me fight. I want a binky.”

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“Did anybody have ‘secretly the spirit of the planet’ on their Bingo card?”

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“In a… fighting way?”
“Whatever. Keeping my options open.”

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Let’s go shoot some demons!

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And… that’s that. Let’s talk about Jet/Adam/The Filgaia Sample for a minute.

So the big secret all along is that Jet is not a “human” or neosapian, but a wholly unique organism designed “from” Filgaia. All of our heroes and villains can, one way or another, trace their origins back to Terra; but Jet is the only Filgaia-based creature in this entire plot. “The Flower Girl” is unconfirmed (though likely a native Elw) (also: this twist explains why she immediately liked Jet so much), and the Guardians don’t so much have physical bodies. Jet metaphorically represents Filgaia, and possibly literally is Filgaia.

Though it doesn’t impact the fact that Jet is Jet at all, so it is basically just there for a few plot twists. Despite his tube-y origins, Jet is just the same generally gruff teen he has always been, and we are not going to have a scene in the future where Captain Planet tries to possess his body or something. He has weird, sci-fi origins, and he has a very important part in the overall plot as a result. But that’s about it. He is Jet, and he’s not going to get a little thing like being a clone baby get him down. Further.

And, hey, we even get to avoid the big “memory reveal” scene, because Jet doesn’t have amnesia, he just plain doesn’t have any memories. I like that twist! He doesn’t remember his uncommon birth for the same reason you don’t remember your birth. Your mom was there! You really should remember!

For those curious enough to read ahead, Jet will get a reckoning later for this plot twist, but, once again, it is Jet-based, and not some situation where a main character suddenly has a brand new personality because of his secret origins. Giving you the side eye as I type that, Xenogears.

Speaking of Playstation RPGs, this whole thing deeply reminds me of a certain turnip’s story in Breath of Fire 3. And I think we can all agree that comparing Jet to a barely verbal vegetable is appropriate.

So that’s the secret of Jet, everybody!

Incidentally, the “deep lore” explanation for his ARM is fun, too, and we can finally discuss it with a good conscious. The Airget-Lamh likely derives its name from the Irish myth of Nuada Airgetlám, and the name Airgetlám straight up means “silver hand/arm”, which theoretically draws back to the fact that the Airget-Lamh Jet wields is not supposed to be black. Anywho, you can read about Airgetlám on your own time, but what’s important to Wild Arms is that Argy loses an arm as a pretty significant part of his story, and Rudy of Wild Arms (1) also loses an arm during that tale. And what was Rudy all about? He was an artificial construct who thought he was a human-human! Just like Jet! So theoretically Jet’s weapon is meant to be a clue as to his eventual reveal.

And Arghetlamh is the name of the sacred sword in Wild Arms 2, too. Given that Saint Sword saves Filgaia from demons there, this is perhaps a nod to how Jet is destined for more heroism than his demeanor lets on. But perhaps the same could be said of all RPG protagonists…

Regardless! Fun facts abound!

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Okay, back to the dungeon.

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We’ve got a collapsing bridge and a moving wall attempting to push us into a pit.

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We dealt with one of these a while back. Just use bombs?

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No, we should probably freeze it in place first. Attempting to stick to one tool will dunk you into the pit.

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Eat it, masonry.

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More hallways, more monsters.

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We done yet?

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Ah, another “can you press buttons” puzzle.

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Jet is a toddler, so he can handle this.

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Okay! We are at the end.

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Maya recounts her failed battle with Siegfried, and how he used the Teardrop to heal himself from all damage. She offers an extremely specific and overt clue for the upcoming battle.

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But speaking of that epic finale…

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We’re going to take a break before the big bad boss fight of Chapter 3. We had enough info dumps for one week…

Next time on Wild Arms: Mugging for the camera.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Geez Jet's like half a dozen plot MacGuffins shoved into one body, huh? No wonder he's so grouchy all the time, must be uncomfortable.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
Welcome back to the end of demonkind on June 22, Magnet Day. There was a man who was a master of massaging. They say he had magic fingers, but he was actually just a magneto man.

Chapter 63: We're All the Same

Previously on Wild Arms 3:
We all learned the secret of Jet and his deep connection to the planet. But now we are at death’s door (literally), and we’re going to ram that deep connection right down Siegfried’s throat.

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Wait… does he have a throat? I do not understand how demon physiology works.

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Really going to go hard on the whole “humans descended from demons” thing this dungeon, eh?

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“Grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand grand spawn, maybe!”

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“And there is probably a third thing, too. We all have eyes? Sorry, thought you would get here later.”

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Sieggy, Virginia has so many daddy issues, claiming her as your spawn is probably the worst choice you could have made.

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“Yeah, but key difference? We’re still alive.”

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Speech mode: activating.

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Has the demon spear been an ARM all this time? Oh… you’re not being literal?

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If you were waiting for a “we’re not so different you and I”, drink!

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“For one thing, we summon gods. Never saw you do that!”

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“Okay, maybe there is no difference between us, but Armengard back home rarely lives for battle.”

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Siegfried
notes that their “one” difference is the human ancestors were a bunch of wieners who decided to not destroy the planet.

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Friendship is bullets.

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“I was going to start shooting you anyway, but now I’m going to do it harder!”

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Siegfried fight! This is for all the marbles!

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Full disclosure: this fight is disappointing. Siegfried successfully bested both Janus and Maya (in actual battle scenes), and was (mostly) the big bad of Wild Arms 1… But by the time we are fighting him, it is a marginal puzzle boss married to some forgettable attacks.

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Siegfried is flat broke. Dummy probably doesn’t even understand money.

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The Dark Spear Nemesis was a weapon that made the gods of Filgaia quake in their boots back when it was first introduced. When it is finally used against you by its true owner… nada.

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Here is the gimmick: like in Maya’s fight, Siegfried will use the power of the Teardrop to heal all of his damage.

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To be clear, this is not a minor cure, this will top him off to full health every time.

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And he brags about it!

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Key words: “as long as (you) have”.

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Pickpocket is a magic spell that is usually useless in Wild Arms 3. There are some nice items to steal in the Abyss, but prior to that optional dungeon, the best you usually get is a heal berry. You would be forgiven for forgetting you had earned this ability way back at the Luck Shrine.

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But use it here, and you will steal back the Teardrop.

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Siegfried doesn’t react to losing the most powerful gem on the entire planet, but he will lose the ability to heal after you heist it. Now he is stuck using his “regular” attacks, like Negative Rainbow. This ability is presumably meant to draw a parallel between Siegfried and Demon Janus.

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Proton Beam is a slap on the wrist, but it is a slap we will see again before this dungeon is completely out.

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Now that Siegfried cannot heal, it is simply a matter of walloping him but good.

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Better luck next game, Sieggy.

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Did we prove your point by beating your ass? No. No we did not.

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It does not at all! Shut your blue face!

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Sure, have a good laugh about it.

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So that’s that.

If you’re curious, you can overwhelm Siegfried’s healing by doing a lot of damage all in one round. Finest Arts is the best way to do this, but high levels and maxing out on buffs could allow for it, too. In the event you straight up kill Siegfried without stealing, you never obtain the Teardrop… though that doesn’t impact anything. Despite being the most important macguffin in this chapter, the Teardrop is never plot relevant again, and will sit uselessly in your inventory if you did steal it.

Maybe the Teardrop was supposed to return, but some programmers realized there was no way to force it back into your inventory if you didn’t steal…

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Staring contest!

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“For one thing, we have hair!”

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Technically, the nanomachines were going to create something new. Just not something new that anybody wanted…

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Not all memories are good.

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(That’s us!)

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“And Jet! Who is apparently a whole other thing!”

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Thanks, Zeromous. Get your blue ass out of here.

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Nobody breathe for thirty seconds! Don’t want to get that stuff in your lungs.

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“Did a demon just explode?”

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“Did it for you, babe.”

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Maya is playing it cool that her girlfriend is a demon slayer.

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Finally! Someone gets to blow something up!

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“Yes, thank you for asking.”

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Girl likes her fireworks.

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“Please wait until we leave, though. Got that? Don’t explode anything until…”
“Roger. Initiating self-destruct sequence.”
“Maya!”
“What? Kidding!”

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We have control again, and we can gently caress our precious on the walk back.

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Dammit! Repeating this dungeon is going to be a pain.

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All the rooms that previously contained puzzles are either “solved” or their traps have somehow vacated the area.

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This means the hike back is only ever interrupted by random monsters.

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Still have to grapple every once in a while, too.

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See? No giant blocks to bother with.

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A few moments later, we are back at the command center with our buddies.

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Thanks?

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Anybody else picturing Virginia pestering Maya with “oh can you not see the keyboard when I do this?” for a couple of minutes? You have to have a little fun after you save the world.

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Okay, guess we will listen to our friends and continue on. Note that even if you “cheated” the laser traps (see two updates back), they are now nonexistent.

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This looks like the exit.

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Beep beep boop.

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I am not comfortable with how effective this kid is at tracking everybody.

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Nerd Maya looks like she is concerned about her servbots.

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Man, look at all those dials. Was Siegfried using this place as a recording studio?

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“How many bombs we got? All the bombs?”

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Ah, this old yarn. Same thing happened in Wild Arms 2 with Odessa’s floating base.

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Siegfried would only have one escape pod…

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Maya!

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We just got you back!

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Oh, good. Because we’re not giving the Teardrop back.

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Maya claims her next target is no longer a dinky little Teardrop, but this big, beautiful planet.

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And you have to be alive to conquer Filgaia, so don’t explode, Maya.

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Or… is a world.

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“Do you mean you’re going to make the planet a better place, or conquer it.”
“Why not both?”

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“I am into this shit, Milady.”

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Apparently Todd was considering everything up to now “for” Maya’s father, but now he is officially on team Maya.

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We have time for a knighting? Sure, why not.

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Todd, you are easily the most competent person in this whole game.

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“Protect the cat and my brother. They will be lost without me.”

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Away!

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Strong, independent disaster girl.

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“Also: explosions. Which I love!”

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Action button pressing!

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Meanwhile, at the exit…

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Here we all are.

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“Did you guys plan ahead on this at all? We are the only team with a dragon.”

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Three out of four ain’t bad?

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Gotta wait for Shadow.

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Will Maya be okay? Is Siegfried gone for good? Find out next week in the thrilling conclusion of Chapter 3!

Next time on Wild Arms: Maya is the main character now.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)

Geez no wonder Luke wanted to go to Toshi station so bad, those Power Converters are potent stuff.

Anyway, don't forget to wait at the edge of the Floating Continent for Maya, or else you won't be able to use her in the World of Ruin.
 
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