Happy Holidays! Today is December 26, Boxing Day. No, it’s not a day to punch people. Today we give boxed gifts to people. The favorite boxed gift this year is a jack-in-the-box. Retro items are hip.
Previously on Wild Arms 3: The team raced through Nidhogg Pass, but Leehalt nailed Virginia a nanomachine virus at the finish line. Virginia was in dire straits, but her daddy came to the rescue. The whole team then retreated to Werner Maxwell’s home.
But before we get there, it is time for a check-in with the bad guys.
Melody really liked Asgard, and is more than a little suspicious about how Asgard hasn’t been around ever since they went on a fieldtrip with Janus.
… Was that racist?
You “heard”? From, like, who? Granny?
Bosses gonna get Musk-y all up in here.
“Remember that bomb in your head? The one that can dole out random amounts of pain? Have you been accounting for that at all, Janus?”
Looks like a no.
“And you need your body to live!”
“Hey guys, what’s up? Barbecuing Janus for some reason?”
Yeah, things are not going good for the bad guys.
“They found the shitty cave! They made it past our shitty block puzzles!”
“Janus? You want to get promoted? Kill those guys you only killed once.”
Bro just wanted something to do besides getting tortured.
Well, one of you is on their knees and literally falling apart, so I am going to go ahead and predict that Filgaia has a leg up.
“Let’s get you to the one office chair we rescued from our old lab.”
MEANWHILE!
Genuinely do not know if Clive is being protective of Virginia, or he is curious about the science involved in all of this. Or maybe both?
“Are the anti-nanomachines just nanomachines?”
“Yes.”
Virginia will be okay! Eventually!
“Follow up question: are you evil?”
“Yes it is from Hyades. My freaking hat is from Hyades at this point.”
“How did that work out for ya?”
“Shut-up.”
“And lots of monsters. Don’t forget that.”
“Shut-up.”
“I haven’t had someone call me on my bullshit in ten years…”
“We were enormously bad at our jobs.”
But what is Virginia thinking about during all of this?! Let’s check in on the coma dreams.
“It was the same day I heard a gigantic explosion off in the distance, and I saw a bunch of severed arms roll by in a tumbleweed. I think my aunt made lasagna that night.”
Mom died of a terminal case of no one wanted to design her model.
“We were fighting a robot in an ancient ruin at the time. Just a whole lot happening at once.”
Is Virginia getting therapy in her coma? … Wait, are there any therapists on this planet?
Guardians, Daddy, dust once in a while.
“Tears left for Daddy” would be a rad band name.
“You took the only bed.”
“Oh Gallows, it’s you!… But I did leave you, Jet. That’s just the trouble. And I tried to get back for days and days… but it wasn’t a dream. It was a place. And you, and you, and you… and you were there. But you couldn’t have been, could you?… no, Clive, this was a real, truly, live place. And I remember that some of it wasn’t very nice. But most of it was beautiful. But just the same all I kept saying to everybody was I want to go home…”
Great, now Leehalt has a three-day lead on us because somebody needed a good nap.
This is not true. Without Virginia, who would give the guys all those Heal Berries?
Oh, right. Daddy.
“I am sticking around for two days of my daughter’s coma, but after that, I am done.”
"Guess he had somewhere to be… With the people he actually loves…"
Yes, he left you to die. Good deduction.
Convenient! We’ll catch up eventually.
Virginia decides to get going… which does not go well.
I think it is pretty clear she doesn’t, Jet.
“My muscles only atrophied a little bit.”
So we’re going to get some plot/gameplay synergy now. Until the end of this chapter, Virginia will be “sick” thanks to Leehalt’s attack. Excellent gameplay maneuver, but one that is going to make our lives more difficult.
“If I’m going to die, it is going to be beating Leehalt senseless.”
She’s up!
Jet is being a dick like usual, but he’s not exactly wrong.
Here is our gameplay quirk: Virginia (and only Virginia) will not have any VIT for the next dungeon. This means that you will have to manually heal her after every battle. This isn’t the end of the world, but you are definitely going to notice every battle where you forget and she starts with a meager HP total.
Remember when I said you should bring a bunch of heal berries for these dungeons? This is why. Note that the only way to heal this condition is to advance the plot.
There is always a free “inn” here in the shack, though. VIT is restored… for everybody else.
“I’ve been sleeping under that table over there.”
“What? Did I forget to reequip my Guardians or something?”
There better not be an army of daddies out here…
Oh. Oh, this is different.
“Like, what’s all this green stuff under my feet?”
“Yes, it is true. I panic-puked for ten minutes.”
Coma over, magical world beyond imagining now available.
Bro, you’re allowed to be flabbergasted. It is okay.
“Yeah, the fact that he only remembered one tree is kind of pathetic now.”
Just imagine: these four people are going to discover what grass stains are for the first time.
“If such a world of green and blue exists on Filgaia…Then this must be the only place…”
… That we can get a decent glass of water?
This is scenic and amazing and a complete lie. We’ll cover that in a minute or two.
“… Anybody else just want to roll down this hill?”
“Yes.”
So here we are on the map screen for this area. The minor gimmick is that we kind of can’t actually see our location amidst all the trees.
As you can see, we are that little white dot hidden in the circular continent to the northwest. This whole area is surrounded by mountains, so that’s why no one ever got in there. Or why the one guy that did decided to start a cult.
We can return to daddy’s Greenlodge at will.
And why shouldn’t we? We only got to “explore” it during a cutscene.
See? Rewards for being thorough.
Daddy was keeping an ancient evil sealed up on the corner of his property. Remember that for when we are hunting super bosses.
I choose to believe Werner Maxwell purchased and brought his own save doll to Greenlodge.
Free, infinite healing if you need it. Virginia has spent too long in bed, though, so this is no time for a nap.
Okay, off into the wild green yonder. The positioning of the camera deliberately makes this area difficult to navigate.
Don’t think that just because this is Eden, there aren’t monsters.
There are some real fun guys around here.
But be careful, they cause a bit of a ruckus.
Bad neighborhood.
You’ll find the other side of Nidhogg Pass over by the lake. You don’t have to “discover” it, as you technically used this exit during the cutscene. If you absolutely must return to the rest of the world, this would be the (long) way out.
Okay, so this is the deceit I was talking about earlier.
Obviously the one patch of deforested land around here is hiding the Yggdrasil tower. And you can see how its glam shot displays an enormous tower climbing high into the heavens. So…
(Previously on Wild Arms 3)
Why, when we look back at the panorama view of the area, could we not see the tower? We can see the patch of dirt where it is built, but, nope, no tower. This team needs glasses.
Anywho, before we even start this dungeon, I am going to make a recommendation: do absolutely everything you can to protect against poison. A lot of monsters use that status effect here, one boss relies on it, and Virginia is not in a place where you want her losing any more health points than necessary. Even in the “normal” playthrough, I have managed to acquire 4 moonstones (which protect against poison), and the fire guardian guards against poison, too. So get on equipping that poison status ward ASAP.
The party doesn’t know it, but the audience knows this is the right place. We’ve seen those walls before…
“Anyone else feeling weirdly motion sick from looking at this paintjob?”
Who would have thought the bad guys would actually try to enact their plan?
Do it for those trees we just found out exist!
Chapter 2 Finale Dungeon! Settle in! We’re gonna be here a while!
First challenge: big switch.
Additional challenge: more angry birds.
These little golem dudes (Asgard’s progeny?) use earth attacks, and are weak to water attacks. Equip Virginia with earth defense if you want to keep her healthy.
Drown!
Oh you son of a treasure hunter! Kill those birds before they run off with your best items.
Back to switch: just use some height, and you’ll be fine.
This place has the most complicated interior decorating.
Giant chickens are also fond of magic attacks.
And poison! See? Look out for that poison.
The game is being helpful with the drops, though.
Traps are now available.
Going to want to avoid walking in front of those duders.
You can either toss a fire crest to finish these things from afar, or sidle on up with a bomb to get more personal.
Just keep rotating the camera to see all these wily traps.
Blammo.
There are going to be a lot of “stair rooms” during this dungeon. Any of these rooms are basically an excuse for monster attacks, so keep Virginia’s HP up for cardio.
Bah! Stupid blind corners.
Eat fire, laser.
Scoot on up here…
And we can score a little treasure before proceeding.
And speaking of proceeding, we are going to take a break here. Melody is the first of many, many boss fights we are going to encounter in Yggdrasil, and we are going to want to take a focused look at each and every one…
Next time on Wild Arms: Toxic individuals.