DQXIS First Forest: The Big One

With all six Orbs in hand, we are now allowed to go through these doors. Yes, that is indeed all getting those Orbs did for us.

We have my favourite* type of exposition!

Exposition delivered over a backdrop of tangentially related images done artistically rather than narratively!

*Not actually my favourite type.

Yes, yes, we know about Erdwin. It's next to impossible not to.

...Marked for greatness? With this image... was this from birth?

He went with a party of four.

The other two party members... well, they don't have reincarnations, for certain reasons. They do have successors in the party, however- characters who grew up where they did and learned the same techniques.

One thing that isn't stated here is the relationship Mordegon has to the Dark One Erdwin battled. Is he a reincarnation too, or does he come from someplace different? This question is answered later, by the way.

...

That's all? "You know that thing you're doing? Keep doing it. So long, good luck."?

DQXI Arboria: Preparing for the Big One

Here's the dragon that's frozen in the Snaerfelt. I feel like there's a better place to stick him from a "let's not wake him up" perspective. This is way too easy to awaken this guy.

Let's just move on to our next location, the Arborian Highlands.

...Why does that name sound familiar to me?

Erik: Just a little further and we'll be in the First Forest. Then it'll finally be time to offer up those hard-earned Orbs and see what happens!
Veronica: There's somewhere very special at the top of these highlands. I wonder what you'll think of it... Hmm? What's up there? Well, that would be telling! You'll just have to see for yourself!
Serena: After we cross the Arborian Highlands, we'll be in the First Forest. Tee hee! I'm ever so excited!
Sylvando: I looked up at the sky a little earlier, and the World Tree was right there, looking bigger and brighter than I've ever seen Her before! We're nearly at the centre of the world, aren't we? Come on, honey- just one more push and we'll be up in Yggie's branches in no time!
Jade: I thought the climate would change once we had left Sniflheim behind, but it's almost as chilly up here as it is down there. I suppose it's always colder at altitude...
Rab: Krystalinda might've made it more difficult than it had to be, but we finally got our hands on the Blue Orb. All's well that ends well, eh?

If you come this way before getting all the orbs, there's a few cute Party Chat lines for some of the party:

Erik: Hey, don't you think you're putting the cart before the horse a bit, coming up here now? We've still got an orb or two to track down, remember?
Veronica: The bad news is, we haven't found all six Orbs yet. But the good news is, there's a nice surprise waiting for you at the top of this hill! I'm not going to tell you what kind of a surprise, though. You'll just have to see for yourself!
Serena: Hm? Why are we here, Erdward? We haven't found all of the Orbs yet. Did you take a wrong turn somewhere? Or were you just curious to see what's at the top of the mountain? Well, I can't blame you for that! Tee hee!
Sylvando: [...] We mustn't get ahead of ourselves, though- it's not quite time to head up into Yggie's branches yet, is it? I think you might have that map of yours upside down, honey...

The red tint of these experts on gusting and blustering is caused by the air around them spinning so fast that it glows from the friction.

...I'd like to see your citations on that. Whirly girlies come from DQs 4 and 9, and their main thing is throwing out Thin Airs and Swooshes. They also have Hermes Hats as a drop, but I don't think we really want more of those as helmets?

Horrifying murder machines made by madmen. They often leap up to attack from above using their powerful piston-like legs.

Runny eggsoskeletons are new to DQ11, and aside from acting twice and having an AoE paralysis attack, they're about as dangerous as the other eggsoskeletons. This one we'll be riding!

More MP for the magic goddess!

And a Mini Medal on the climb out of this giant pit.

Welcome to... wait, is that...

Well, that's quite the theme. Despite how high energy this is, this song is traditionally assoicated with churches and sacred sites in both this game and DQ8. Although I think it's used for the monster arena sometimes in the latter.

DQXI Sniflheim: Bewitching Beauty

With Sniflheim back to normal, one quick mention of how things went for Mt. Snowhere of DQ6: when that town was unfrozen, everyone was unaware of a freeze happening in the first place. They had been frozen for fifty years, which made that significant, while these guys were frozen for a few months- they're going to be irritated, but it's not the worst thing in the world.

This was about the reaction of the guy who occupied Mt. Snowhere during the freezing. Well, beyond his guilt for being the person who caused it.

This kid saw Krystalinda, and his mother completely dismisses it. That's how unaware anyone who didn't see the witch is.

The people who did see her are no less confused. From their perspective, a feared enemy showed up, and then... nothing happened.

The guy who was sleeping on the job has gotten a thorough tongue-lashing on the situation.

And the lesson is roundly ignored because the guard doesn't believe him. Just this once, that annoying trope of authority figures not believing fantastic reports got flipped on its head and I am all for this subversion.

...Someone ought to tell them.

DQXI Snaerfelt: A Job Half Done

We've been waiting to get past this door for ages, and it turns out to just be a regular old Magic Key Door. Hopefully the poor people of Sniflheim won't begrudge the wait too long.

...This is certainly no winter wonderland.

("The city gets completely frozen over" is a reference to DQ6, with Mt. Snowhere suffering from the same fate. The parallels end there- a few details match, but the lessons being taught are polar opposites, pun intended.)

Quick reminder of the plot: Sniflheim's main gates have been frozen shut, an unusual circumstance considering the importance of that passage for... well, life itself. Now that we've gained access to the city itself, we can see the problem is quite a bit more extensive than that.

I don't think you can get this from normal freezing.

Erik: It's cold, sure, but there's no way the whole city should be frozen solid like this. Let's check this place out and find out what's going on here...
Veronica: Everything's been turned to ice! The castle, the houses...even the people! There goes our plan to ask them about the orb... Still, we're not just going to give up and go home! Let's see if we can find someone who isn't frozen stiff!
Serena: Even the poor animals are frozen solid! I do hope they're going to be alright...
Sylvando: Look at these people... They were just going about their business when they got frozen in place- it's like time's just stood still! Listen, I'm no meteorologist, but there's no way a cold snap could have caused this. There's something fishy going on, honey, mark my words!
Jade: Did Sniflheim get hit by an ice storm? Is that why everything's frozen? I don't know much about cold climates, but this seems too extreme to just be down to bad weather. There must be some other explanation...
Rab: The plan was to see if King Gustaf would lend us his orb, but that doesn't look like it's going to be possible now. We should try and find out what happened here, laddie. We can worry about the orb later...

A somewhat interesting thing is that, while the people in the village square (...hexagon?) are reacting in alarm to something that appeared in the centre, the people on the outside were going about their day. I wonder how quickly the freeze worked, if that's the case.

DQXIS Phnom Nonh: From The Inside

And we're outta there! Good thing someone left that hole there.

And we all landed "safely". If, by "safe", you mean "no longer on the Other Side", we're definitely safe.

And yes, we're warped right out of Nhou Wat and right here in Phnom Nonh.

Erik: So I guess this means we're back in the real world, huh? But we're not done here yet. We need to find that little girl before she causes any more chaos!
Veronica: (pant) Phew... (pant) ...There! All I needed was a few deep breaths, and now I'm right as rain. Let's get moving!
Serena: Come on, Erdward! We must tell everyone in the village the truth about the Nhou Wat mural! Let's start in the main square. There should be lots of people there.
Sylvando: Whoever wrote the warning on that stone was right on the money! That mean little girl is luring tourists towards the mural so they can get sucked right in! Honey, we need to get moving. We've got to put a stop to her wicked ways- and fast!
Jade: Did you notice that the mural had a crack, just like the one on the Other Side? It's hard to believe, I know, but I think we may have been inside the mural...
Rab: Owww... My poor jacksie! That bumpy landing's given me a terrible bruise on the behind. I could do with a wee lie down, if I'm honest with ye, but I'll soldier on.

Serena's got a cute "angry" pose for this Party Chat.

DQXI Phnom Nonh: That's Rich

Time for us to cross "the great bridge" and enter the South Champs Sauvage. The enemy encounters differ wildly between north and south, but the relevance of this bridge is only important once.

Having been brought up in a tropical paradise, they're cooler than cruelcumbers, and make Multithrust look like a dapper dance move.

Zumeanies come from DQ9 and 10, and they know how to use their spears this time. They can land confusion with their swings, and know the Spear Skills Multithrust and Thunder Thrust. They can also muster their strength and block your swings. They're still not really more threatening than their younger brothers back in Heliodor.

They take secret pleasure in that sweet, sweet moment when a bird lands on their shoulder while they're waiting for someone to wallop.

The golem is among Dragon Quest's most iconic monsters, and the baseline in which other golems are compared. It is also surprisingly sparing. Sure, it first appeared in DQ1 as a boss, but it's first appearance as a monster was in 5- and even then, that was mostly so you could recruit it, it was in an area you had little reason to visit otherwise. It was also a boss in DQ7, but joined the roster of normal enemies for DQs 8-10. They can muster their strength, land crits, and use Forbearance to shield their allies.

Veronica finally gets the improvement on Bang! Unless I'm in a very conservative mood, I'll be using this instead of Bang now.

Due to complicated reasons involving later reveals, I don't really want to invest in Erik any more than I already have for practical reasons, but I do want Erik to have the option of making use of Swords, so Erik is going to start learning his Sword skills. The Skills are less important, I'm more focused on the damage bonuses.

Serena gets a boost to MaMend...

And Jade gets some more firepower.