Wild Arms 3 Part 06: To Grandmother’s Cave We Go

This is initially being posted on Gogglebob.com on May 30, Rose Day. Take a bath with rose petals today and you’ll be healthy for the whole year. But taking a bath with roses reminds me of Count Begucci, so it might creep you out.

Previously on Wild Arms 3: The whole gang finally got together. Now they just have to figure out if there are any epic, world-spanning quests around here.

It is rather cruel to drop our poor party off in literally the middle of nowhere without so much as a map.

Head North! If you are abusing your radar system, you’ll find a sign around here that says just that.

There was no reason to wander further than the Southern/Fallen Sanctuary during Gallows’s introduction, but if you did, you would encounter monsters that would murder you until you turned around.

But now that we have a full party, Beast Slugs are little more than a bump in the road.

Lookit that whole party, ma. You can’t really switch party members “out”, so the only way to not receive EXP is being dead at the end of a battle. Which, honestly, is kind of an experience onto itself…

We are hoofing it back to Baskar. Once you get past the initial drop off place, the path back should be recognizable.

Welcome home, Gallows! Since we were here once already, we don’t have to radar Baskar out of the ether.

“Is this the reason you’re the way you are?”
“No, she’s probably over in that cave.”

Also, Virginia calls out Jet on his general silence.

Fun fact: that kid barely has anything to say across the whole of Chapter 1. Keep an eye out!

“I have to go collect my paycheck.”

I chose to believe Clive receives all his jobs via carrier pigeon.

Gallows made no attempt to fake his death on the way out, he just naturally believes that everybody else would assume he wouldn’t last three months in the wilderness.

He is right.

“I have the gift of prophecy, but you’re so inconsequential to the fate of the universe, you’re never mentioned!”

Virginia is here for the family drama. Jet is contact-embarrassed for his brother in thievery.

Gallows only successfully ran away from home for three months. We will never know if a circus was involved.

We immediately transition to Gallows’s home and Halle. The awkwardness is palpable.

When we get paid for a job, we literally get paid for a job. This ain’t no cutscene funny money, that is the most gella your party has ever seen at this point.

“So I’m going to subtract two hundred gella…”

Clive and Halle simultaneously reveal that…

It was always assumed that Gallows would see the press about an Ark Scepter, and wind up attached to the thing.

So Granny played Gallows like a fiddle. It isn’t revisited (much) past this point in the story, but I enjoy how these two have a sort of Road Runner/Coyote thing going on.

Granny didn’t like that.

I’m seeing double! Four Ark Scepters!

There can be more than one magical artifact of infinite power, dummy.

There is nothing not funny about the fact that Halle banked her entire “get Gallows back” plan on the idea that the dumbass couldn’t remember that there was more than one Ark Scepter. And she was right!

Anyway, during the last three months, Gallows grabbed numero uno, Shane nabbed another two scepters, and the last one was to be delivered by train (and escorted by Clive).

“And my ancestors created four of ‘em, because they bought the materials in bulk.”

So you can either talk to a god, or kill a god. Or both. Maybe you don’t like what the god said? You’ve got options.

“The Ark Scepter made it to the colony safely, away from the hands of villains…Thanks to all of you, that is. But I do have a new mission I would like to ask of you.”

After a quick change of venue for some added drama, Granny gets to the good stuff.

Virginia, Jesus. Look, we all know you live in a JRPG, but, my sister in Christ, you don’t have to be so genre savvy about it. Zounds, let the audience come to that conclusion first.

(Oh, and, yes, this is her immediate reaction to the dialogue transcribed above. No skipping screenshots here, Virginia jumps straight to deicide.)

“You want us to mortally wound the guardians, leaving them to die long and laborious deaths in the harsh existence of the wasteland?!”
“Girl, what is wrong with you?”

For some follow up answers, let’s turn this over to Shane.

The guy from X-Men?

“A blue shadow will rise from the ancient dead on our planet, Filgaia. The resurrected blue shadow will wield a sharp, cold sparkle that will eat away the planet. People, animals, and all other life-forms will be devoured, and eventually Filgaia itself…”

Yeah! The blue guy from X-Men!

Virginia was all about killing gods until she found out there might be an even bigger god on the block. Now she wants facts.

I appreciate that Gallows 100% always supports his brother (when he is not fleeing the county).

“We needed a name for this ambiguous, apocalypse thingy, so I just went with the one color we know is involved.”

“But this threat is not all that the dream speaks. It also tells of how the blue shadow will be defeated.”
”The blue shadow shall be expelled by releasing the chains which bind the guardians. Filgaia will eventually rejuvenate, and a little girl will bring about peace and tranquility…”

Not to get all spoilery on such a fun twist, but, if you have not played Wild Arms 3 before, and you have guesses on the identity of “a little girl”, I guarantee you, your guess is wrong.

So Granny suggests these four randos should be the ones to release the chains that bind the guardians… or at least strike up a conversation with the gods.

“You can do it. When I said the bearer of the Ark Scepter has the right to kill a guardian, I meant…You must face it in battle. It proves that you are worthy to face these intangible, invisible beings. And by fighting and proving your strength, the guardian will be released from the earth, transferring itself into a medium.”

You really could not have been more clear about that when you were talking about god-murder all of thirty seconds ago!?

Virginia, I know you’re a Skinny Minnie, but you must understand that not everyone is a Size 2.

I see where this is going. Halle is going to reveal it’s actually just a pretty rock in all of a minute.

Remember how Gallows has a pseudo medium that got him through his introductory dungeon?

Well now he doesn’t. Granny obliterated his medium!

Now our mage can’t cast any spells! He’s useless! Useless I tells ya!

Gallows straight up loses his party utility here, but he has a chance to get it back by smacking around a god or four.

“Okay, enough about our party’s butt monkey. When do we get paid?”

“You get four magical items that are wholly unique in the world and grant you the untold power of a god. Do you need gas money, too?”

So the plan is we’ve got four people, and will acquire four mediums. Granny seems to imply that she thinks the crew will do the right thing once they are all powered up… but she is playing it coy.

Gallows, somehow, does not understand the concept. Gal, buddy, Granny has duped you, like, three times that we know of in the last five minutes.

Halle makes the point that outsiders have to handle this, as the Baskar’s dedication to museum exhibits apparently borders on apocalyptic.

Note that Halle and Shane are apparently the only people on Filgaia aware of an encroaching catastrophe, and their solution is "a long shot".

So let’s discuss: Gallows is going to complete this mission because he already misses his old, shattered medium. I admit, if I had the power to generate ice water at will, and lost it, I would fight to get it back.

Clive is interested simply because he is… interested.

Jet is characteristically practical.

And Virginia was convinced the first moment that god slaying was mentioned.

“We’re in, Gramma!”

“You made a wise decision. Not the fact that you accepted the mission, but the fact that all four of you will carry out this mission together. The guardians have sealed their bodies in a distant time, but still exist today in intangible forms. Their strength far exceeds those of humans, so you should all watch out for each other.”

Wait, whoa. Nobody ever said fighting a god would be hard.

“If you guys need to fight giant bugs until you are level 5, have at it.”

Could I interest you in one more tutorial for the road?

The A.S.K. or Activate Selected Keyword system is one of those dealies where developers were trying to find new ways to make the dialogue bits of JRPGs more stimulating and interactive. See also that weird “wanna watch something else?” system in Final Fantasy 9.

Does the entire Carradine family have the ability to break the fourth wall at will?

Any time you see green text, hit the square button, and you’ll get a follow up on the highlighted text.

Sometimes this is required, as a random NPC might “mention” a nearby town or dungeon, and hitting the square button will get you (radar mandated) directions. During more cutscene-like moments, the ASK system is usually an excuse for one of your characters to verbally react to something someone says.

It never hurts to ASK, so if you see green, hit square. Learning is helpful!

So our plot mandated beats are over, and we can explore Baskar at will (again). Roykman here is our first shop. There was not a single opportunity to spend gella during the intros.

As previously mentioned, HP healing items are not available for purchase. Additionally, you cannot buy Gimel Coins, or anything that instantly grants FP (like the force carrot we won at the end of the last boss battle). However, you can buy a whole host of items that heal status ailments. While you do not have limited inventory space (you can buy 99 of everything, which should last you for the game), the fact that there are so many different status ailments and attendant cures is something that can be a bother. Nobody wants to blow cash on five peppy acorns just in case some random mook can inflict the dudes with depression.

Regardless, for now, your best choice is grabbing a few antidotes, as we already know how much of a bear poison can be. Pinwheels to cure confusion are a good idea, too. Anything else we can get to eventually.

The sweetest plum here is the World Screen, which is a world map. It does not automatically make radar items appear or anything super useful like that (we will earn that item eventually), but it is handy to see where you’re going. Now isn’t normally the time to buy the thing (nor can you probably even afford it at this point), but it will be essential by the time you get a boat and/or airship.

Oh, and call whistles summon your horse. You have a horse yet? No? Okay then.

Roykman will one day be our best travel buddy and only mobile shop… but right now he’s staying put.

Baskarians are not sure about Drifters running off with their artifacts, but they do know more about their culture than Gallows.

Speaking of, changing your leader will get different reactions with different people. As an easy example, everybody still hates Gallows.

There isn’t an inn in Baskar, but it sure is convenient Gallows has four beds in his house. Maybe Shane has a lot of sleepovers?

“Is the Blue Menace just water?”
“Please leave our town.”

I like Ellen here. She gave Gallows heal berries a few months back, and now her “secret to being the best drifter” is not making loved ones worry. Good on you, this specific Ellen.

Okie doke, time to head out and slay god. Slay-ish… I guess.

We’ve got four Ark Scepters, half a photograph, and twenty breath mints. We are good to go!

I’ve got New Game + money, so I bought a World Screen. It’s a great big world out there, and we have technically only seen that tiny bit of brown around the middle. The white dot is us, and the highlighted green square is Baskar Colony (as it is highlighted in our anemic town list). Fallen Sanctuary could be highlighted if I hopped over to the Dungeon section. Any traveling from anyone but Gallows does not “count”, as they never touched the world map during actual gameplay.

Note that the world map contains X/Y coordinates. This had to be a boon for FAQ writers back in the early 21st Century.

Also, like a lot of things in Wild Arms 3, you will receive a reward if you fill in literally 100% of the map. This means you must go everywhere. Again, wait for the inevitable airship if you want to go down that road…

Anywho, back to the Fallen Sanctuary. We know the way!

And that’s where we are going to quit for today. Consider this something of a 2-parter, as the whole “here is the plot of the game” thing already took up a lot of time, and now we’re going to have to fight four separate bosses. That’s a lot of ground to cover! And giant, flaming monsters to defeat!

Next time on Wild Arms 3: Communing with god (with guns).