DQXIS Act 2 Phnom Nonh: The Dragonth Avarith

The South side of the Champs Sauvage has the real story. As a matter of fact...

You can kinda see them from the first image. Yes, we are just now getting around to fighting cheater cheetahs in the vanilla game.

You don't have to tell me twice.

Just before we start drawing weapons, a strange song begins to play- and not only are we distracted, the cheetah is too.

Only one man would dare play music like that for no obvious reason.

Sylvando has also come to the rescue, although we're probably a little closer. How does Sylv keep getting to those high places?

The cheetah is not impressed with Sylvando's bravado.

Sylvando was always good at getting from high places to saving the day.

Fans are a weapon type available in some DQ games, most notably DQ9, where they were an entire dedicated class of weapon.

Unfortunately, Sylvando will stick to using swords, knives and whips in battle for DQ11. I kinda liked fans, and it's not like Sylv's Swords are doing much.

Sylvando stops for a dramatic pose, because his job is to spread good cheer, and I assume "dramatic poses" help with that.

One thing about the Definitive Edition adding the Side Story first is that we know the characters that compose the Soldiers of Smile have identities (though not names), but as far as the vanilla game is concerned, they are mostly just a homogenous blob of a single "character". Just imagine how the vanilla players feel when they got to this moment and have no explanation for why Sylvando is suddenly leading a parade of pink-clad men in peacock feathers.

Sylvando pauses to bask in the adulation of the Soldiers of Smile with an assortment of waves and blown kisses.

Erdward and Hendrik can only pause and stare in complete and utter confusion. Remember how I mentioned Rab was "skippable"? As far as the narrative of this Town Story is concerned, we don't have Rab. He still has a full complement of Party Chat quotes (and Sylvando has a full complement of Party Chat quotes for being taken to Angri La, too!), but for the story, we'll be pulling an FE and pretending he doesn't exist.

DQXIS Act 2 L'Academie: Home Away From Home

Forgive me a second- we're wandering over to the Champs Sauvage right now, and we're stopping to get accosted by some Costa Valor new enemies.

Leaders among mermen and skilled strategists, they like to spray enemies with poison to weaken them, then call in their underlings to finish the job.

The merking appeared in DQs 3 and 8, and while it does like to poison you with a venomous mist, it doesn't seem to call for help. It can, however, summon pillars of water for a torrential attack. DQ6 also has an enemy called a merking, but it looked like this instead.

Behelmeted beasties who win victory in battle by calling on countless companions to overwhelm the enemy.

Octopots call DQ10 their home, and can drain magic as well as call for help. And when things seem extra dire, they also have a Kerplunk dance to bring back every enemy that died at the cost of their own life.

The "magic drain" dance drains magic from all party members, but the Octopot itself doesn't seem to get all of the MP for itself.

Rab shows off his new trick: savaging enemies with his claws to fish for crits. He also drains a little MP back for landing a hit in general.

The octopots notice they're somewhat outmatched.

Anyway, something about the Champs Sauvage? We enter from just south of the Eerie Eyrie.

Hendrik: The fall of Yggdrasil has taken its toll even here... This place was once a paradise on Erdrea, but now that the Lord of Shadows reigns supreme, one cannot know what horrors lurk behind every corner. Be on your guard, Erdward.
Rab: If we could get our hands on Erdwin's famous flying contraption, we could soar on up to the Lord of Shadows' gaff and give the blighter what-for! But first, we better see about tracking down our auld pals. None of them were exactly the giving-up sort, eh? Not even the fall of Yggdrasil would be enough to keep them down. So what do ye say we kill two birds with one stone? We can ask around for information about Erdwin's flying thingumajig and keep an eye out for familiar faces along the way.

DQXIS Act 2 Angri La: Wheel of Harma, Turn Turn Turn

...Oh hey, it's that place Rab went to. Guess we found our way after him.

Of all things, you wouldn't really expect the gateway between life and death to just be a copy of Angri La's Field of Discipline.

And we immediately bump into Grand Master Pang pretending to be the arbiter of souls or something.

Not that we're supposed to know this is Pang.

Did you have to call us an idiot?

They really lay the arrogance of Pang down thick. There's a line between "confidence" and "rudeness", and I think Pang has crossed the line on the other side of rudeness. Especially since, as far as she has chosen to believe, we're some random dead kid.

I wouldn't say nothingness. The Field of Discipline, though tacky, is certainly something interesting to do.

Ah great, Mordegon broke hell loose so badly even the afterlife felt it.

...What if I put the Tree back? Will all the souls get back on track, or are they gone for good?

Erdrea is a world about reincarnation. With this in mind, it's possible that by shutting off the tap on the afterlife, Mordegon has created a world with no births.

...Which isn't that bad compared to everything else, who in this godforsaken Erdrea is making new babies?

DQXIS Act 2 Mount Pang Lai: The Ancient Order of Angri La

Oh, so you guys were the ones who fixed the bridge? ...I can buy that, rockslides wouldn't have done that.

It'll be a bit of a quick visit through here.

Hendrik: Loath as I am to admit it, the truth is that I harbour an intense dislike of insects of all kinds. I would be grateful if we could head west of here and make haste for the Costa Valor.

There was a "down here" you could see in the Act 1 version of the Manglegrove, but it is now an accessible area. Which is good, because Flint's bridge has been busted again.

Four shiny spots down here, and one treasure.

This mini medal.

Cute little carnivorous plants that just kept growing and growing until eventually they were huge, hideous, man-eating monsters.

Chewlips are the base form of the gnawchid family as it appears in DQ2, although this family hasn't reappeared until now. These guys can launch crits and Sweet Breath.

This bit, here, is where you get back up. It might be a little hard to pick out at a distance.

...Flint must be feeling really annoyed with this one.

This is a good time to pick up this Campsite again. This one's a good one for a single sidequest later.

Right here, beside Tricky Devil's chest, is our "repaired bridge"- a log plonked down over the path.

...It got us over to the Costa Valor, at least. Can't complain too much.

Hendrik: This place reminds me of my youth. I spent some time in a town in this region... But that is of no consequence now- the King has instructed us to travel to Mount Pang Lai, and seek those whose fate is deeply intertwined with that of the Luminary. We need to head north and find the checkpoint of which His Majesty spoke. Come, let us go there without delay.