At least Vince respects what we can bring to this partnership. Which is honestly more than I can say for the reverse.
Vince has to go attend to his business. So yeah, I reckon we're going to remain without a Pep Power.
...
OK, the beastiary includes the Octagonian fighters as a matter of course (that's where those descriptions come from). But would it hurt to perhaps not let this achievement trigger unless you fought... real monsters?
By the way, we can't Party Chat here, despite the fact it clearly sounds like we should.
Yeah, the Underdigger and Showman kinda aren't all that interesting compared to their successors.
There's one thing we can say for sure: regardless of who wins, the battle between Erdward, Vince and Jade will be very exciting.
I'm sure you did. This NPC probably was dismissive of us earlier, I must've missed her.
Veronica gives Erik a firm scolding for losing. Considering the seeding of the tournament, losing Erik is a bit of a blow for us getting the Rainbough.
Erik has this to say, and to be honest... it's not backed up. Jade is not in any way "not normal". Well, OK, she doesn't have what you'd say is a normal training montage, but her skills are 100% her own.
...Saying that admits that Erik was woefully outclassed, though. You don't even need to add "by a woman" here- how do you lose a two-on-one against anyone?
No, no he wasn't. If he was, it would be the only time in the game he shows romantic interest in a woman. Except his sorta-thing with Serena. Maybe Veronica is pulling the protective older sister.
And Rab and Jade show up for us to meet.
...You have how much space to walk around?
Veronica decides it's best not to argue here. We, uh, kinda need to beat Jade to get the Rainbough.
Jade decides to give us a warning about Vince.
"A warning about Vince" is... incredibly vague. We don't even know who the person we're supposed to stop is.
Serena wonders if Vince is in danger. I think it's too early to talk about it. We don't even know where the missing fighters are going. "Vince, you might be in danger from this known threat. We don't know what form that danger will take, but you must do something about it!"
Erik missed that gossip. We just found this out talking to random people, dude.
...What's our insurance?
Still no Party Chat. They're all around Octagonia instead.
Serena, of course, is right here.
She has directions to offer us. This is... kind of some not particularly helpful directions.
The Angri-Lans have a lot of good to tell us.
...So will not doing that. I'll pass and practice teamwork with my friends.
...You know, I do have old armour I haven't got around to selling...
Even the generic NPCs are interested in us now!
With that said, though, we're not the only ones doing so. Good to keep in mind.
Somehow, I don't think she means in the internet slang way.
Whambelina herself is actually pretty close to strong and silent (not quite taciturn enough to truly count), so she probably sees a bit of herself in him.
If you doubt my skill, I'm willing to offer proof personally?
Sylvando's taken a seat at this table. I think he's talking about the people on stage, although it does kinda look like he's pointing at beardy.
...Fascinating. This is a genuinely helpful tidbit- it rules out so many motives for kidnapping. Any kidnapper worth their salt is going to use the non-fighters as targets because capturing and controlling them is so much easier. If you're kidnapping people who can and will fight back, that power is going to be part of the point.
Speaking of kidnappings... the Underdigger and Showman seem to be among them.
I feel like this outcome is not as stupid as he makes it sound. I can certainly imagine a fighter losing in the first round having their pride bruised to the point they don't want to make it public that they're going to go home and cry about it.
"On the plus side, he's stopped yelling at me about how badly his figures are selling. Want to buy one anyway? Or five, we're having a clearance sale."
Veronica is closer to the orphanage, back downstairs.
She provides additional directions. This advice continues to not be particularly helpful- "go down the stairs, then head west" basically means "go down the stairs and keep going forward". You need to turn to reach the orphanage- and you need to turn early.
Going down here gets you to spot Vince talking to this guy, before walking away. This is a more helpful clue to find the orphanage the plot wants you to visit.
Talking to this guy to see what he was discussing is a dead end, incidentally.
...That's... look, I understand that's good advice on an island city, but I would never phrase it to imply you should treat people outside your home that way.
So much more scam since the last time I was here. This poor guy.
We bumped into Vince, and he almost pummels us before (somehow) noticing who we are.
Perfectly reasonable. Even without that, not the worst reaction in the world, if not for your muscle.
Vince invites us inside to say hi to his life's work.
The orphans.
"Especially you, Vince Jr?"
So what are we talking about, then?
...You know, that's an admirable cause.
...That... doesn't sound good.
You mean there's nothing in place to prevent this? The income of an orphanage is based on the fighting potential of one guy?
Honestly, you can probably have the money, I have more than I really need in the end-
I wasn't thinking about that being a problem, but now that you mention it, is it?
Oh yeah, we've gotta go, uh... rest, at some point.
Oh yeah, and a sorta warning, too.
...Though I think that won't be necessary.
At least the kids feel safe! Safe-ish. Vince's possessions, on the other hand...
Also you'd have to have a heart of stone to rob what they do have.
This kid is going places.
Even the other adults here are kinda scared.
Hah, they thought of that.
...Vince, do you have something to hide?
Whatever it is, clearly someone else wanted to find out.
...Not helping your case.
...I don't know if I feel safe falling asleep here after that-
I guess not. I suppose I can make do.
And away we go back to the tournament!
Erik: So you went to check on Vince, huh? I heard about what happened. It's got to be connected to all these fighters who've been disappearing, right? Anyway, you and Vince are okay. That's the main thing. Now, you need to get your focus back! It's nearly time for the big fight! Vince is in the waiting room. Go let him know when you're ready- and good luck out there, man!
Veronica: I know you're his partner and everything, but it was still ever so kind of Vince to let you stay at his place. I shouldn't be surprised though, I suppose. I mean, he looks after those children all by himself. He's clearly got a heart of gold.
Serena: First there are all these rumours about fighters going missing, and now they say that someone burgled the orphanage. It's all rather worrying, isn't it? You remember what that young lady told us, don't you? ‘Keep a close eye on your partner’? I wonder if it's all connected somehow...?
Sylvando: I've been doing a spot of investigation into these disappearances, but so far I've turned up... precisely nothing. Nada. Zip. But I've got a funny feeling there's something fishy about the team you'll be fighting in the final. Watch this space, honey...
Oh my goodness, this is so wholesome!
Bless his heart.
Time for Round 2 to get started!
We get titles. Of course they do, they're an established team, but we get... actually, what are we contributing to this title? It's all Vince!
The Beaty Queens introduce themselves with a flirty pose. Considering their personalities, I appreciate that Sinderella thrusts her breasts out while Whambelina pulls herself in behind her shield.
And of course the girls have a fanbase.
...This one as a fight to remember?
That was the least of my concerns.
A contestant in the MMA tournament who distracts her opponents with her provocative appearance before unleashing a salvo of spells.
??? family
304 HP
50 MP
Sinderella is a clear reference to the third opponent in the Tournament of Endor, Prima Donna the magical bunnygirl. Much like her, Sinderella knows the fire magic spells and healing magic- Frizzle, Sizzle and Midheal respectively- and has a fair bit of MP to work with. Not as much as perhaps she should be to remain threatening the whole fight, but Midheal is one of those things you don't want her using at all costs.
She also seems to be using Serena's Wand animations.
She may be a strong, silent sort most of the time, but she's not above striking a pose with her partner Sinderella come tournament time.
??? family
304 HP
14 MP
Whambelina is Sinderella's shield, but she doesn't have any sort of means to divert your attacks. She can use her shield to block, has a Flame Slash of her own, and can throw out kisses to enthrall you. Kinda surprising that, in the end, it's Whambelina that has the sexy attack and not Sinderella.
I think Whambelina's animations are based on Erdward with a Sword.
The pretty-pretty act may not be convincing us they're harmless, but it sure is convincing us they're confident.
Sinderella has Sizz and Sizzle, for when she wants one or the other.
We have this. Although it won't help much against Sindy's magic. I think it can.
Obviously, I'm going for Sinderella first. Gotta deal with that Midheal.
You dolt!
OW!
What happened to "don't let the pretty-pretty look fool you"?
At least we get this.
Oh, already? Is this because we got enthralled?
The Beaty Queens' Pep Power is a single-hit powerful fire slash.
And Erdward blocked it. Don't underestimate Greatsword Guard.
The rest of the fight clearly wasn't much hassle after that.
That we have.
And we're going right to the semi-finals. I think, if you lose a fight, you get to regroup and rethink and come back to the fight you lost to at no penalty, but still worth mentioning.
Coming up next, the Bullion Boys!
...They got a more badass entrance.
...
...I mentioned Sylvando signed up for this thing? There's hints about it scattered through the story thus far- Erik joining too, Erik and Sylvando accompanying you to the partner draw, Sylvando being in the top 15 lineup (behind a bodybuilder so a casual won't spot him), but this moment is supposed to knock your socks off.
Sylvando has confused this for the WWE and has a fervent dedication to maintaining proper levels of kayfabe.
Although he has forgotten what his name is supposed to be.
I feel like this is the correct response to Sylvando's shenanigans with the mask off, too.
...Golden Boy is OK with this, right? Imagine being the poor guy partnered with Sylvando and having to go along with whatever showy idea comes to his mind.
If there's one thing Sylv is good at, it's that.
I'm sure it will.
...Vince, you didn't mention this.
Vince, that doesn't make it OK. What was in that stuff, and is it tournament-legal?
The barker hasn't noticed.
A suave young scrapper who found his finest form when paired with Sterling Sylva, the most fabulous fighter ever to grace the arena.
??? family
336 HP
16 MP
The Golden Boy is based on an... interesting opponent in the Tournament of Endor, Roric. Yes, just "Roric". In the NES version of DQ4, one of the weapons you could acquire was a boomerang, and because it predated the use of boomerangs as AoE weapons, it would be problematic to include it in a remake- and the devs decided to replace it with the Hunter's Bow rather than implement a proper boomerang. Roric, the second opponent in the NES Tournament, used a boomerang, and someone clever on the dev team decided to make him a crossbow-themed archer named Quick-Draw McGore for the remake to match the weapon change. Unfortunately for them, however, this game doesn't have archers.
Despite being the native Octagonian, Golden Boy is the less remarkable character here. OK, yes, his friend is a party member, but still, Golden Boy isn't dangerous. His Skills are Twomerang (hits you an extra time) and Starburst Throw (deals light damage everywhere). He uses Erik's animations for dual-wielding Boomerangs, and that's not the only Erik animation he steals in the end. Also, his description is kinda spoilery for Golden Boy's development, but I think that's on the game- we can read this description before we fully see the outcome it describes happen.
There's something strangely familiar about this colorful character. ...Okay, we all know exactly who it is, but let's not spoil his fun.
??? family
346 HP
80 MP
Sylvando is the man to watch. Despite knowing healing spells (ish), he won't use any of them in this fight. In fact, he ignores his entire magic toolkit. The Skills he does know are Hot Lick, Miracle Slash, Kiss Me Deadly and Grand Stand, and with one minor exception, this is a skillset that you could put on Sylvando with SP valid for this point in the game, I'm fairly sure. We can't get Grand Stand at all yet- since we're worried about being hit with it, you should know it increases his own Atk and Def by one stage each.
Well, they're confident. Which one you should focus fire on is a little more hazy than the other rounds- I think the smarter idea is attacking Golden Boy and make Sylvando a one-target thing.
That was Golden Boy's most dangerous attack.
Kiss Me Deadly can poison, but Vince is in little danger.
Bump that up.
See what I mean? And you can parry these, too.
I went with Sylvando first. I think I was under the impression he might heal, Oomph, or otherwise be as annoying to us as I'm sure he is to our enemies.
Already?
Here's Grand Stand. We're probably not going to make much use of this when we get the chance (by the time we unlock the ability, there are much better uses of your turns than a +1 Atk/Def buff on one character, especially when that character is Sylvando), but it's going to make him annoying now.
About that annoying.
And yes, he has a Pep Power with Golden Boy.
Oh, of course you did.
Let's see your Precious Mettle! (Erik does not get any two-person Pep Powers with Sylvando at all).
...Did Erdward parry again?
That hurts us, at least.
That, on the other hand, helps.
Golden Boy alone is helpless.
...The way you say that doesn't fill me with confidence that Vince was being entirely polite there.
Sylvando's taking it on the chin, though.
And Sylv drops the act to wish us luck in getting that Rainbough we desperately need.
That reaction continues to feel about what one expects.
Time for the final round of the Masked Martial Artist Tournament. In a Single Elimination tournament, there are eight matches in the first round and seven matches in the rest of the tournament, so this is a good decision from the audience's perspective, although the fighters might just get tired after three rounds in a row in-universe.
I don't think it'll be any surprise who we're meeting.
The In-Vince-Ibles will be coming up against...
The Princess and the Pudding! I wonder how much say these two had in this name. It's so much more clever than ours is, even though ours is by far the cooler name.
Vince takes another of his very curious potions.
And Rab and Jade take notice, even if the organisers do not.
Vince is raring to go against one of the scariest matchups in the tournament.
And Rab says this. I'm not sure which "laddie" he's talking about.
Let's do this, shall we? Show us what ye've got.
A mysterious marital artist whose killer kicks and fantastic footwork were more than a match for Erik- a testament to her considerable skill.
??? family
414 HP
53 MP
Jade is a skilled martial artist, and she seems to be attacking almost entirely unarmed for her appearance here. Her combat focus is similarly focused on fisticuffs, with her Leg Sweep (which can make you miss a turn), Harvest Moon (a more powerful attack supereffective against birds in this game, so just a slight damage increase here), and Vacuum Smash (a wind elemental attack that can hit both of us) making good use of those long legs as combat weapons. If Vince isn't the Alena reference in this tournament, Jade would definitely be the one playing that role.
The chubby old chap who fights alongside Jade. His unexpected sway with the MMA organisers is just one of many mysteries that surround him.
??? family
364 HP
55 MP
Rab is a mage, and contrary to his role in his narrative appearances thus far, he's decided to pull out his Heavy Wand and pull his actual weight in this battle. He knows the spells Crackle, Zam, Snooze and Midheal. Crackle hits both of us and Zam is a single-target Dark spell that can land critical hits more easily.
None of the opponents have been a reference to the fourth opponent in the Tournament of Endor, Samson Knight. Samson was a Restless Armour recolour, and because the Showman also looks like a monster, it's not fully known if Samson is a monster or, more pragmatically, if he's just the one jerk who brought a sword and full plate armour to a martial arts tourna... Oh.
I wasn't planning on doing anything less!
I like the fact Jade was saying this as she launched her first attack.
On the first turn, Jade and Rab will use their narrative trick of Jade launching an offensive attack and Rab passing his turn to "assess the situation".
Don't fear, Rab is quick to start casting after that.
Zam hurts. There is equipment specifically to block Dark elemental damage throughout the game, and it counts.
Jade can also skip turns to assess the situation.
Vince continuing to understand the right time to use these.
Sadly, so is Rab.
This was a Harvest Moon. I'm just looking at Jade's pose as she flies.
Enemy Pep is mostly for Strength, so I don't think this helps him until Jade charges up.
I wish you wouldn't do that.
Rab and Jade's Pep Power is Black Boot, a darkness-infused version of Multifeet.
The fact it's multi-target helps us plenty.
Some elemental resistance would come in handy right about now...
You little...
And there comes the Leg Sweep.
Fortunately, Rab is dependent on his MP to be scary.
Jade has evasion, annoyingly.
At least we do too.
I ran out of MP for my stuff.
At least swinging my sword is good with or without Cutting Edge.
We start with Rab getting knocked down.
Jade's of little help, since Erdward is matching her legwork with that massive greatsword. Despite this cutscene being particularly active, the game has variants depending on what kind of sword you're using. There's a lot of stuff where the game keeps your costumes in mind, but Erdward using your sword here is much more complex.
Erdward readies a block, and his mark becomes obvious.
And Jade recognises it, stopping what she's doing to parse that fact.
Rab is also taken off guard when he notices the same.
Vince has neither noticed our mark, or noticed that our opponents have noticed it.
Which leaves him free to capitalise.
Erdward actually vaults over Vince to perform the finishing blow. We've got to get the Rainbough, but something's telling me there's something else we've got to deal with before we leave...
The barker is as surprised as anyone else in the ring.
We win!
...Wait, which of us gets the Rainbough? Did the MMA organisers think of this? Vince, I will give you all of the money if I can keep the branch.
Vince also gets a trophy. There's... also only one of those.
Vince doesn't seem to acknowledge the obvious matter of who's supposed to walk away with this thing.
...No, I refuse to sell it. We can't let it escape again, and also the moral quandary of reneging on a sale, especially if you get the profits, and-
Oh.
...So what was in that stuff he was drinking?
So let's talk a little bit more about the Tournament of Endor here. As context: The King of Endor (of no relation to the Star Wars planet) has organised a tournament to find a suitable husband for his daughter. When a shady individual called Psaro the Manslayer is coming close to being the winner, the King gets cold feet and asks Alena to win the tournament- since she's a woman, the marriage would have to be called off if she won. (This game was released in 1990- can you tell?)
Alena fights her tournament bouts alone, and must complete them all in full succession. She has nothing but her gear (her claws, body armour, and hat- she can't equip any shields) and as many Medicinal Herbs as you can stuff into her inventory. All bouts except Atilla drop a Medicinal Herb, and Alena can use as many as she likes to heal up before the next match starts (and yes, the game will let you use more than necessary). Upon the defeat of the Abominable Showman, the game sets you up to expect to fight Psaro the Manslayer, only for the organisers to find he has skipped town and Alena is declared winner by default.
From the music alone, it's obvious the MMA was clearly based on the Tournament of Endor. However, they have distinct differences- each match of the MMA has a full heal provided for free, and Erdward is assisted by Vince, who has an infinite pool of Strong Medicines to keep your HP in reasonable condition. Erdward, by virtue of being a) in a modern game and b) a Hero and not a Martial Artist, has more offensive options than "Attack" (as much as I love Alena, she's a one trick pony), which helps when you're pitted against two opponents at a time instead of just one. A second opponent adds so much strategic depth on its own that the fact the MMA fighters are also more diverse when it comes to offensive options slips right by. The MMA tournament is not just a callback to the Tournament of Endor- it's a redesign using modern design principles. And it still has the same punchline that the ending isn't what was supposed to happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment