In fluffy cloud heaven? That's just a pun, not actually an expression of horror themes. If you've wrapped your head around "Mario is in the afterlife", you're good.
Yes, brat.
Game's remembering it's been pretty mum about who Grambi is and figures it needs a bit more to describe the man before we meet him.
Her parents fall into the "very concerned for her safety" type of parenting. I wouldn't quite say they are, but it's not like they're very far away from that.
...Also they love you and your idea of a fun pasttime is to wander into the dangerous part of the Underwhere and pine for a dashing knight to sweep you off your feet.
Anyway, let's ignore her again and explore the Overthere.
The Overthere is also split into numbered sectors, which can help your navigation... if you can keep your navigation straight.
The place is currently swarming with Skellobit-family monsters, a warning sign somewhere just shy of having a bright red siren and loud klaxons.
Everyone's cheering, but I don't think we're getting to safety from this position.
Not that up here is very safe either.
...If this is the same part of the Overthere, I'm already confused.
There's just a lot of stuff to find in the corners, and Paper Mario has never provided a minimap. Maybe more RPGs should consider that.
Can't go through this one up here.
But there's a guy being attacked down here.
You Skellobits are having way too much fun.
"I don't like bullies."
Hey, I'm not a friend of the... looks back at Luvbi We're not friends, she just... oh, who am I kidding, I didn't like you guys anyway.
At least don't start by marching slowly in my general direction like common Goombas.
As mentioned, Nimbis speak in Olde English- or perhaps just as many words we think of as Olde that they could fit into a single sentence.
Although they do use enough exotic works you do have to think about what exactly is being said here.
...You know, I don't think they ever explain what this plan is. The Skellobit Army is usually assumed to be released by Team Bleck, or otherwise have Team Bleck have some sort of agency in this situation, but that's not the case. Did you notice that not only have we not been harassed by Team Bleck, but they haven't even appeared? Although Dimentio could send us here, I'm not 100% certain he could follow us here.
...Anyway, regarding the plan, I think I do sorta have an idea what the plan is, but it's less a "use Pure Heart to do this" plan and more to do with merely possessing it.
Important note: Luvbi herself does not know where it is kept. Jaydes does, though. Grambi is a much easier target than Jaydes, though.
Why are the Overthere Keys identical to the Underwhere ones? Probably to make the workload easier, but that does not look like a key for upstairs.
"What's the Olde Tongue word for goodbye... oh, underwhere with it."
That's Sunbi... He's a very serious Nimbi... He volunteers as a palace guard in The Overthere... Though not physically strong, he has a strong sense of justice...
All the Nimbis have names, based on days of the week, seasons, months, or other measurements of time. And yes, have Tattles.
There's a little bit more to this room behind Sunbi, too.
We finally get to see Luigi's Pal Pills! They do not have the ability to follow his Super Jump.
This room goes up. So much for those Pal Pills.
Screw that guy, I guess.
At last, we have made it to the room's top, where we are met with a Nimbi encased in ice.
Yes, the Nimbi survives this. Not that he was alive to begin with.
Unfortunately, the traumatic response he manifested was amnesia, and he will not be helpful in any way. I don't know what the point of this is, and the cure is hilarious.
It would also help if some Nimbi looks pointedly at Sunbi could answer these questions for him.
...OK, I had to try Cudge, you know?
That's Blubi... He's a powerful Nimbi... He's got a kind personality and heads up The Overthere Human Resources Sector...
While the fact the afterlife has a HR sector is hilarious enough, I'm amused they still call it Human Resources- both because afterlife and because the world of the living had very few humans in it in the first place.
Right, door.
...And another key. At least we're being funneled through these early areas.
I've got no idea what that Save Block is for. It's in the middle of nowhere mechanically.
This may be the first time a Flip Block started in 2D and then became 3D to solve the puzzle. And it wasn't even for anything.
Anyway, Glide. The block was probably to distract you.
Fallbi is really that helpless. Nimbis are capable of self-defence, but most of them are this weak. They are the spirits of the dead who didn't want to deal with this sort of thing.
That's Fallbi... She's a Nimbi girl who's completely head over heels for her darling... Her hobbies include gazing into the eyes of her beau and gorging on candy...
At least she sees Peach as just as lioness as the men.
Although only Bowser can break him out of the ice.
It's sickening, but in the sappish romantic way rather than the infantilising way.
..."Heavens"? Not sure if that's supposed to be a pun or just the writers forgetting the word "heaven" means something.
This guy will lend us a hand, in a bit more permanent a capacity.
They're having a lot of fun with their choice of words.
I'm not going to deny that. The ponytail on the Nimbis makes them look adorable. Although I think that's the only difference between the two Nimbis.
Despite her eagerness to fly off, she doesn't actually do anything.
Bowser: "I didn't want any part of this conversation to begin with, don't askest me!"
Fallbi is going to spend the rest of her time standing there admiring how cute her boyfriend is on the clock.
Because Novbi here is an elevator operator. Despite Luigi's Super Jump, I think we do have to operate this Overvator to get up there even on replays. Which sucks, because there's actual stuff up there to come back for
That's Novbi... He's a male Nimbi who operates the lift... His hobbies include nurturing plants and nurturing the love between him and his girl...
Rainbow pantheon! Well, at least this is back in operation. These are the only two destinations this Overvator goes, and in general this service is mostly a one-off thing. Occupational hazard of this being a platformer- an RPG protagonist has far less vertical options.
Going all-in on that ice Nimbi statue gimmick, are we?
That's Monbi... He's a hearty and active Nimbi boy... He has wild mood swings... One moment he's angry, then he's crying or laughing...
Every single Nimbi has their own personality, but they're mostly limited to the Tattles- they get the same irritated reactions to being unfrozen as any.
That's Sprinbi... She's a cute Nimbi girl... When people tell her she has her head in the clouds, she says, "I'm not a Lakitu!"
Also jokes like this one.
Welcome to the hallway of six of them. I think you do need to free all six to solve the puzzle...
That's Saturbi... This Nimbi has a strong sense of duty... His past successes have earned him the nickname, "Overthere-Mart Raffle King"... He always blows his luck on lottery drawings, so he's not considered lucky...
That's Wenbi... He's a happy-go-lucky Nimbi... A free spirit through and through, he spends his days wandering like a vagabond... But ever since he fell in love, he's stopped wandering and loiters in this area...
That's Thurbi... A spirited Nimbi who never forgets to be young at heart... Though he's all grown up, he still has dreams of flying high in the sky... And though he's grown up, he still occasionally wets his bed when he has nightmares...
That's Winbi... This Nimbi loves movies... she's planning to direct her own amazingly romantic film someday... She also plans to appear in it herself and marry the handsome lead actor...
That's Rainbi... This Nimbi believes strongly in fate... She believes that happiness and sadness are both determined by fate... Her dream is to meet the celebrated fortune-teller, Merluvlee, and talk of fate...
That's Sumbi... A female Nimbi... She's been drawn to men who reek of danger lately... Unfortunately, only boring men are drawn to her...
That's Janbi... A young Nimbi... He's scatterbrained, so he's always running about... But he's also a sap, so at home, he and his girlfriend are annoyingly clingy...
From the sounds of it, I'm not 100% sure the Nimbis would've said much more if we talked to them unfrozen first. This being our first meeting means they put a worse foot forward, though.
"Does this make my hair look hot?" is certainly a line, though.
"Whoa" almost feels like too intense a line for these relaxed Nimbis. This guy is going to be... OK, perhaps "important" is overselling it, but we need to unfreeze him to progress the story. I don't think he's based on any characters in Christianity.
The name "Whibbi" being more or less a colour-coded Nimbi name as opposed to a time doesn't inspire much confidence. Also he calls it a "given name"- I'd joke about this being a Christian name, but it turns out those are two slightly different things... and also makes me realise that using the phrase "given name" here almost kinda raises the question of how exactly Nimbis get given their names. Since coming to the Overthere would likely involve a ritual that gives the newly dubbed Nimbi a new name, I think "Christian name" would be the more appropriate one, ignoring the baggage that term has.
Regardless, locally, he's probably the best candidate for "Grambi's second in command", and Luvbi goes right to him to ask what Grambi's dealing with.
Well, they came and they wrecked house.
...Wait, hold on, the lot of you can fly. Why are we treating this bridge as the slightest problem for you? For me, certainly, and I'm probably the only thing in the Overthere that can threaten the monsters, but that's just for me.
Tippi: But... isn't there some way to rebuild the bridge?
Peach: Couldn't we rebuild the bridge somehow?
Luigi: Erm... We can't rebuild it or something?
I'm not 100% sure that we can begin this conversation as anyone other than Bowser- it should be tied to unfreezing Whibbi, not talking to him, so we should be only able to see Bowser's line. This is not a bad thing- Bowser really has the measure of the situation.
Well, that's the story of how we get something comprehensive to this level.
And that's why we needed to start the quest. Well, that, and the Orb-givers don't respond unless we've talked to Whibbi.
That's Whibbi... He's a bigwig in the Nimbi world... He protects The Overthere as a close aide to Grambi... It's his constant struggle to get Rebbi, Blubi, and Yebbi's opinions to mesh...
(Secret is, Rebbi has the best idea right now, and I'm not sure what Blubi and Yebbi do in normal operations.)
Sadly, we're long past the days of - and 1 making the path for us. Errands it is.
On top of Whibbi's pantheon is the final Itty Bits, giving us Hot Dogs (a recipe product) and at last, Hot Sauce. I don't think we have the inventory for it, but we'll be back to fill out our recipe log on Hot Sauce recipes.
I continue to be amazed there isn't a map of these places. Despite traversal being the point of a platformer, the world feels less put-together.
Anyway, before we can actually go exploring through the locked door, one of the sages we needed to visit was this amnesiac back in an earlier area.
I am not kidding: Talking to Whibbi triggers the event flag that cures Blubi's amnesia. We don't actually have to do anything for him.
The game is going to make a joke about event flags in 8-2.
Luvbi then walks over and treats Blubi like an idiot for developing amnesia over being frozen, a completely horrible position if it weren't for the fact that every other Nimbi managed to avoid getting amnesiac in the same situation. No winners all around in heaven. Not looking forward to spending the afterlife here.
That was easy.
And off he goes, never to appear again.
...So where was Sector 4 again? Making a mental map is easier when you're playing, but it's still trying to remember which bit of clouds were where.
That's a Skellobait. These little creatures depend on Skellobombers... Max HP is 5, Attack is 2, Defense is 1. It has very chilly breath... One whiff, and you'll be frozen solid... They use the ancient magic of The Underwhere and The Overthere for evil...
Over here, we can see the non-spiky version of the Skellobait. You'd think we'd see it first.
Going left at Sector 5 takes us to Sector 6.
Where you need to flip into 3D to progress. Say, those guys up there look a little bit like...
The game figured this was the best time to give you a Mega Star that Luigi could use. Like the Pal Pills, Luigi's design uses the original colouration from Super Mario Bros. rather than his modern design. Unlike Mario, this design does take on new connotations in the modern era: Most players unfamiliar with Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 1 (even people who play that game don't bother with 2 Player Mode and thus don't see Luigi) see this design and instinctively think "Fire Luigi". Fire Luigi in SMB1 is identical to Mario- good ol' NES colour palettes. In fact, the Fire Flower uniform wouldn't even be standardised to its modern colouring until Super Mario World.
...Oop, too far. Getting out of the Mega Star section requires flipping back into 3D and going to the same side of the map as the first part of the Sector. That entire run was literally sectioned off.
That's a restroom... I guess people need to go, even in The Overthere...
And for the third time in the game, an important character is hiding in a bathroom. I was hoping being dead would relieve me of the need to do my business.
I think we're meant to take away that this Nimbi is a coward. Despite the fact every Nimbi who didn't hide is an ice cube.
We get asked this question, and oh boy this answer set.
Tell him something reassuring, and he wedges himself even further into his little hidey-hole.
Tell him you are a monster, though, and he logics himself into a conclusion that we are not actually threatening and comes out of hiding on that basis.
I would not recommend this strategy. It frustrates those trying to help you and doesn't work on any villain too dumb to try deceit.
Note that this isn't an answer to the question. We're just here for the orb.
Although we would be remiss if we did not have Luvbi raking him over the coals for his efforts at hiding. Surely if you were going to insult him, it would be far more effective to joke about him hiding in the bathroom in the first place?
Doing a lot of judging this guy for hiding when we haven't yet seen the Nimbi who managed to avoid being frozen through other means. Yebbi was always the one I saw found last, but this time I got him before I found Rebbi. That was odd.
Now for my favourite part of the Overthere: Peach Dashell over the clouds.
It doesn't get you the whole way, but man is it satisfying getting some airtime.
There's also some practical places to use it here, too. For example, that pantheon I'm flying over is a self-operated horizontal Overvator, but Peach is going to make it to the other side of the gap it crosses in this Glide.
Did you see the second door? Let's start with the one we're meant to see first.
Sector 8 contains a Boomerang Bro., the only one outside Chapter 8 and the Pit. This is him in his element in SPM.
And a Slow Flower doesn't exactly help.
Oh hey, there's the other Boomerang Bro.
...Considering how much money we have and how precarious these jumps are, there's no way this is worth it.
That's Maybi... This Nimbi has been injured... His injury is not serious... but it doesn't get any better since he's so distracted...
Hey, if it works, it works. This Nimbi doesn't get up during the story, and I remember something vague about giving him an item, but I think all he does is complain the invasion made him miss Hagtime Mystery Hour. I do like the brick joke, though.
That is a lot of guys in the third dimension only.
I was trying to empty my inventory!
The correct path was the lower number Sector. Not that I understand how the Overthere connects.
Not 3D, although the gap did kinda feel like it, just a glide.
As hinted earlier, some Nimbis have managed to actually managed to deal with the Skellobits themselves.
Namely, Rebbi. I'm told his official job is "Minister for Defence", which explains why he's so competent, but doesn't explain what his job is when the Overthere isn't being invaded. Then again, that's what armies are constantly worried about.
Of course, he can't actually take the last of the enemies, but he managed enough that we should cover it.
Also, they're Skellobits. They're not exactly scary.
Although Luvbi still has her angry eyes, she doesn't have an insult to throw at the sage before they hand over the Orb.
And in turn, Rebbi actually has an objection to offer. The orbs just seem to be a key to where Grambi is, a bridge that seems to default to "on". Why is this an issue?
The complaint seems to be negligible enough that Rebbi will ignore it with no comment. Fitting, for how tangible it was.
That's Rebbi... This impressive Nimbi is the head of the Defense Department... He's a stickler for rules, but he's adored by all for his bravery...
I usually did save Rebbi before Yebbi. Not sure what happened differently for me to get Yebbi first instead. One thing to comment on is that I'm fairly sure you're supposed to find Rebbi first.
Side note, I feel like Yebbi should've been behind the secret door we had to use to get here. That would have emphasised his cowardice.
The sideways Overvator. It's not as easy to jump across from this side for lack of vantage point.
On a similar note, it turns out that Fallbi does, in fact, have a mechanical purpose: if the up/down Overvator is in the raised position, talking to her will lower it.
Overall, that was another long gameplay section for little story content. Like the plot at large, we're backloading the interesting ideas.
Placing the orbs individually in place.
The effect is rather pretty, at least.
There's a bit of a slow start to the bridge spawn, as they start with the Tetronimoes.
Fortunately, it speeds up significantly.
When the last tetronimo slips into place, the bridge starts shining brightly in its rainbow pattern. I like the mixture that sets into place with this bridge: This fits in both with Western and Japanese myths, both of which associate rainbows with Heaven, albeit for different reasons.
Can do. I mean, how bad can it be?
Oh, and the rainbow bridge still shines in its cascade of colours in 3D, too.
...Huh, it's also four different segments over here too. Neat.
We rebuilt it. You ask like it was hard. Next time, check the bathrooms for Nimbis and admit to being monsters.
(This scene is in silence.)
...So do you want him to shuttest thine trap or speakest? I'm just saying, if he refuses to spill the beans, he can be utterly obnoxious about saying he won't.
Bold words for somebody who has demonstrated absolutely no indication of any combat ability whatsoever. What are you going to do, sic us on him- oh.
He is so offended by this notion that he calls in backup.
...That is some tangible backup. Luigi, grab a helmet.
The music for this scene has kicked in: One Shot, coming back for its final and most dramatic appearance.
Tippi starts to think that maybe we bit off more than we can chew.
I say bring it.
Fortunately for the sanity of people less insane than I, we are not actually going to be asked to take down all those Skellobombers: Rebbi has finished nursing his wounds and is ready for round 2.
Since we found him last, he got over his exhaustion in a hurry. This is why I feel like the game wants you to find Rebbi first.
That is rather a lot of Nimbis. Clearly the Ministry of Defence came well-equipped.
Again, what are they defending from when the Skellobits aren't on the loose?
With that said, I do love them managing to make the Shakespearean Old Tongue dramatic in this moment. "NAAAAY!", indeed.
Says the guy who tried to intimidate us through show of arms.
"Thou art toast!" is probably the greatest line in the entire game. Yeah, "thou" is a singular "you", but let him have it.
The Nimbis and Skellobits engage in a battle up top, one which we cannot involve ourselves with. One Shot will continue to play until we enter the boss door on the other side of this fight, making this the other gameplay appearance of the song. In addition to fitting the situation, it also covers up the unique song that plays only on this map when it's not invaded by Skellobits.
The Skellobits on ground level are still out problem, and as we move forward, Skellobombers and Nimbis start falling out of the sky. I'm starting to worry about where these guys go now that their afterlives are over.
Max HP: 10, Attack: 2, Defense: 2. This fiend infests the dark depths of The Underwhere. Smack it from the side because you can't stomp it!
Flip into 3D and you can pick up one of the Skellobit cards!
But up we head for our boss fight. 50 HP heal- since our HP goes so much higher than in the RPGs, this isn't a guaranteed full heal anymore.
Don't forget this Ultra Shroom Shake at the far end of the room.
Yes, that guy over there is Grambi. When they say God is an old man, they leave his all-powerful nature to magic rather than "I could kill you with a flick".
Is Luvbi capable of not having her irritated expression on when talking to someone new?
Well, that's not something you want to hear.
By the way, this guy was standing here the whole time. Shoutouts to Paper Mario vision coming back in a big way.
His cutscene theme. Little odd, but sure.
Tippi: Well, you must be the boss of all the creatures that escaped The Underwhere.
Bowser: Lemme guess... You're the big, bad boss of all those little Underwhere hoodlums, right?
Luigi: Hey! You're the boss of all the crazy guys who escaped The Underwhere, aren't you?!
Luigi seems to like calling people crazies.
Bonechill's name does little to really strike fear on hearing, but that's probably because we're not grounded in the afterlife traditions. It's not like Tartarus and Satan are inherently terrifying words. But yeah, this guy occupies a similar seat to those two.
Luvbi steps forward and speaks up on Grambi's behalf.
A fact that Bonechill scoffs at, because there is something Luvbi doesn't know that makes this claim deeply ironic.
Luvbi is the Pure Heart. That is where Grambi hid it that Bonechill would never find it.
...
So how does Bonechill know where it is? Seems like something that should've been made more clear, considering why it happened in the first place.
That got Luvbi properly jostled.
Bonechil''s version of the story. Again, omitting the part where he discovered where to look.
The real reason Bonechill is making these revelations and not Luvbi's actual parents is to make this scene strike even deeper at Luvbi when it comes true.
How much faith can Luvbi put in her parents to have made the right choice when they left her out of the loop?
This line is deeply cutting to the myth of the Christian God in particular, but can apply just as well to any deity with a judging process. It's just that the Christian God is one of the big ones where "weighing the sins of others" isn't offloaded to a deity who can focus on it and not come off as hypocritical as the Old Testament makes him appear.
...The problem is that, in addition to not really doing a whole lot with it in general because of the format, Grambi isn't even the one weighing sins. That was Jaydes. Granted, we'll see Jaydes' day of reckoning for her role in this situation, but Bonechill is clearly calling Grambi out for it.
Tippi tells Luvbi to get herself and Grambi out of here (ideally in that order), so we can focus on the whole "Bonechill" thing. We can hash all this out when Bonechill isn't going to steal her for his nefarious ends.
Luvbi doesn't even yell at us about our tone.
Claiming Luvbi's Pure Heart will not grant us invincibility. Hell, why Bonechill wants it isn't all that clear. Yeah, invincibility is awesome, but what Bonechill really needs is a) freedom and b) a target to terrorise. Taking over the afterlife is cool and all, but there's no end goal.
That's Bonechill. This frigid boss escaped from his prison in The Underwhere... Max HP is 80. Attack is 4. Bonechill will only be hurt by attacks to his head... To hit his head you'll need Luigi's super jump, or Thoreau to toss icicles... Bonechill's icy breath can freeze you into a soild herocicle... I don't know why, but I get the feeling he's related to Grambi and the Nimbis... I wonder if he was once a...
Bonechill, boss of Chapter 7, is made explicitly a parallel to Satan in particular by having Tippi notice a relationship between him and the Nimbis. Because, you know, Mario games having Satan as a boss. Bonechill could be a nightmare if he just drove forward, but he gives you some space to work with to dodge all those icicles he creates to shoot at you- you know, when he's not filling your surroundings with ice breath.
Tippi suggests the option of using Luigi's super jump to defeat Bonechill. This will make Luigi uppercut through Bonechill's chin and then bonk his head until he's jostled loose by Bonechill's movements- and look at the size of that noggin. With only 80 HP, and good odds the Super Jump takes out a quarter with an Atk score of ~10, a single Super Jump may just quick kill the whole boss. I repeat, Luigi can quick-kill Satan.
Bonechill's battle theme. I'm rather fond of it, but it's not that special across the game. We have an afterlife boss and it kinda just fits in with everyone else's.
I thought I'd play things legit and throw icicles of various sorts at Bonechill rather than doing the good ol' Luigi strat.
Give Bonechill something to make him look terrifying. That confetti bursting from his skin is actual battle damage- he loses blue squares from his face the more damage he takes, being an outline by the time he goes down.
And he can also turn us into an ice cube. Of course.
The falling icicles seem to be decent ammo. That's... that's not helping his case much.
This, though, a little moreso. He doesn't just slam into the wall, but he knows ways to make your personal space very chilly.
Keep up your Thoreaus, though, and there's no reason the normal strat should be that difficult.
...Honestly, with how helpful Thoreau's been in boss fights, I feel like there should be a game focused on his abilities.
Apparently, by throwing your own ice right back at you.
Bonechill lets out a massive roar, showing off that there's still plenty of him still with blue pixellation, before his carriage explodes, the black lines that compose his body start falling off, and then the entire thing just drops into dust. The entire animation is set to far too comical sound effects for the defeat of a monster that strikes fear into the hearts of D-Men and Nimbis alike, and is alluded to be the Mario mythological version of Tartarus and Satan.
...Hey, so can he come back from this one?
Grambi comes in and half-heartedly cheers us on.
(Of course, there won't be any music for a bit.)
We may have saved his realm, but he's still got to answer for his lies, and no amount of success is going to change the fact Grambi is about to become very miserable for reasons he just kinda has to admit are his own fault.
Jaydes comes up after everything has gone down, mostly so she gets to share in the blame for this situation.
Since she hasn't heard anything, good or bad, about what happened to Luvbi, she gets splashed in the face with the cold water of "this is what the conversation is about now". The relief of Luvbi having survived the Skellobit invasion is tempered by the fact this is the other day of reckoning.
Luvbi demands that Mother do the right thing.
Which takes her quite a bit to push through.
...(Incidentally, this is a conversation that's going to fumble a little bit from an adoption-positive perspective, but the nature of Luvbi's existence is poses questions that a simple adoption does not.)
Now, it is no longer deniable. Now, Luvbi must grapple with the reality posed by what Jaydes and Grambi have done.
This is when Soft Light starts up.
"Where no one would suspect" is one thing. But this?
...I guess when you run the afterlife, you don't really realise what happens when things don't die.
With the time that the Pure Heart is needed coming, Luvbi starts pulsating.
Thus far, the biggest fault we've really been thinking of is hiding Luvbi's adoption. But at this point, we need to come to grips with the real harm that these two have done by turning the Pure Heart into a girl.
One day, she would be turned back into a Pure Heart. Returned to the Purity Heart and used to fight evil. And if she could be restored (not necessarily likely), who knows whether it would be the same Luvbi at the other end?
Despite being the rulers of the afterlife, Grambi and Jaydes have made a girl marked for a fate worse than death. Nonexistence. It's her or literally everyone else. And they didn't tell her.
And, of course, the brick joke that Mario really is the prince she's destined to be with forever. Or until we shove you in a Heart Pillar and use you to open the door to the next world.
Understatement of the century right there.
Luvbi is perfectly OK with letting herself be turned into the Pure Heart- although that's not to say she necessarily had a choice in the matter here.
You should've thought of that before you played God, God.
Luvbi knows this is the right call, and is ready to do it. Despite her general brattiness and unwillingness to go along with what we tell her, she is highly focused on doing the right thing. Arguably, her sulking in the corner is because she thinks we're sidequesting while she's needed in the Overthere during a crisis.
Luvbi proceeds to realise that she's about to descend into nonexistence and it's entirely this man's fault, and turns her tongue on them.
She has some opinions about the fact that these two have dragged her through a controlling parental fantasy while knowing full well she wouldn't have the liberation of adulthood to look forward to- worse, they let her believe she had that chance, pine for it, even as they knew it would be torn away from her before it arrived.
I appreciate the willingness to accept your own faults, but unless there's something about the story of you two deciding to do this, Jaydes is equally culpable and deserves no less than you.
Besides, she can't complain to one of you about her situation.
At this point, though, there's something about the way this conversation is set up that kinda... forgets what the argument is about?
Here, we're drifting away from the fantastic element of this argument (Grambi and Jaydes setting their daughter up to die to satisfy themselves) and slipping into "bratty child arguing with their parents".
Complete with an assortment of arguments explicitly written from that perspective. What, do Nimbis have all of the necessary elements of the world that these things would exist in? Hell, the fact Luvbi has an allowance implies the afterlife has an economy. Granted, it also has an Itty Bits.
Points, of course, to the mention of "how dare you lecture me about lying".
I... think the present Luvbi is talking about is supposed to be something she got to give back to her parents. Which kinda makes them going "who gave you that allowance" sound incredibly ungrateful? The harsh words may be unpleasant, but now is not the time to get angry at her. You've made your bed, you are not going to win this argument, the least you could do is give Luvbi the validation she deserves before you lose her forever.
And yet, that's not the message they want to send.
Now comes the point where we hear the "we loved you like our daughter" argument.
This is a good message for adoption stories in general, even if it's a little patronising- that may be more because these stories are often a product of a time when adoption was more misunderstood by society at large, and thus the parents and children who made up the system.
And this story seems content with that happy ending. The love they had for Luvbi is real, even if she will no longer be around to appreciate it.
But still.
We can do that much for you, Luvbi.
Although that was kind of a weird thing to throw at Tippi and not, you know, the Heroes actually putting in the work. I guess she wants to avoid Mario a little longer.
(And also try not to make all the party members talk to her.)
Are you ready to say goodbye?
The eighth Pure Heart is finally ours.
And all it took was tearing a family apart.
Tippi: Thank you, Grambi.
Bowser: Sure thing, Pops!
Luigi: OK, Grambi!
Peach, and to a lesser extent Tippi, are the only ones prepared for the gravitas of this situation. This was a pretty hard-hitting one for even SPM.
Tippi: Of course!
Bowser: Nobody's destroying any worlds on MY watch, Gramps!
Luigi: Okeydokey!
So yeah, if you did the Luigi quick-kill, you'd get "Okeydokey" at the end of the scene. Good on Luigi to bring back the comedy this scene so desperately needed. /s
With our duty taking ourselves- and Luvbi- far away, these two are going to sit here and sulk about this whole mess until they've got themselves in order.
No, that wasn't going to stop the game giving us the Pure Heart dance.
"Heroes... My daughter wanted thee to save all worlds. 'Twas her final wish." Grambi spoke slowly through his tears as the brave Nimbis cleaned up The Overthere. Draped in sadness, Queen Jaydes walked slowly to her palace in The Underwhere. Mario, his friends, and the eighth Pure Heart were all that remained... This Pure Heart had come at a high price. Let us hope it was all worthwhile.
Oh hey, they said exactly the same thing I did. Or perhaps it's the other way around.
Next time: Preparing for the end.
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