Wild Arms 3 Part 51: It’s Going Down

We’ve officially been updating this Let’s Play on Gogglebob.com for a year now, as it is April 24, Back-of-the Knee Day. The back of the knee is the spot where your knee drops when you push on it. You’ve played this trick on your friends too, right?

Previously on Wild Arms 3: Filgaia has a flying city! Or… it used to. Turns out that big ol’ city had a big ol’ crash, and now we are exploring the wreckage to see if they left anything useful.

We’re not super optimistic, though.

They did leave behind a number of puzzles at least.

This one is a double Clive-event. Use his Mighty Gloves to make a platform out of blocks, then use the grapple to get up on those blocks.

At least this dungeon is slightly more interesting than our typical cave environs.

But an unavoidable battle means it is time to pay attention.

We’re not completely done with this dungeon, but we do have a boss to tackle.

As mentioned previously, likely to account for the possibility of doing quests “out of order”, a number of mandatory bosses in this section are “puzzle fights”. Can you guess the gimmick of Chameleon Man?

He’s weak to ice, but there’s always a twist with chameleons.

Be sure to start by dispelling… whatever he has going on? It was on that stat screen, and I should really know what those icons mean by now…

His main offense seems to be sticking your characters with depression. This means they will accrue FP incredibly slowly (1 FP per round).

And our main offense is shooting the guy.

But this robot master reject can go intangible/invisible after a physical attack.

This makes it hard to aim!

So, naturally, this is when you whip out the ice magic. The trick here is that you have to manage your own depression, and somehow order a pizza so you eat at least something today you stupid loser that cannot even get out of your pajamas what are you doing with your life have enough FP to effectively use your arcana.

Over on the New Game+ playthrough, I actually killed Chameleon Man all in one hit. This led to an amusing bit where the tutorial explained the trick for victory while Chameleon Man was exploding.

Anywho, Chameleon Man will go back to being tangible after two turns… but he is unlikely to survive that long. Have Clive shoot on the first round, let everyone use ice spells or items after that (and Clive’s 100% accurate lock on still works), and Chameleon Man will feel your sting shortly.

No denouement, no mention of the defeated chameleon. Real loser there. Between this and that eyeball that was just hanging around last dungeon, it really feels like we are fighting “filler” bosses.

These pipes have got to smell bad, right? Regular pipes have a tendency to hold some nasty odors, but techno-organic pipes that have been “dead” for hundreds of years have got to be awful.

Time for a multipart puzzle.

Turn the lever to flip over the crystal switch. Then freeze the lever so the switch won’t flip back to the other direction. This one is fun, as there is juuuuust enough time for you to nearly get in position to hit the crystal, so you might not realize you have to do the freeze trick initially.

And then it’s just a matter of Clive remembering to look up.

There can’t be much left to this floating city, right?

You can drop down for a little treasure haul.

I am going to log every trapped treasure chest if it kills me.

Kills me from boredom, obviously…

Pocketbook can increase your Gella returns by 25%. It does stack with the Gella Plus ability you already have on the Luck Medium, so if you are anxious for more cash, equip this immediately.

Back to the beaten trail.

Last room.

There is technically somewhere to go from here, but it is inaccessible. Congratulations on finishing this dungeon. You are a super player.

You must look at this computer to make any progress, though.

Yet it still works. I have a laptop that stops functioning if I burp near it.

“Beelzebub McEatpeople. That’s a human name, right?”

“That’s so interesting, Clive! Continue!”

Come on, man! You’re so close!

REMEMBER YOUR MURALS!

Anywho, recall those rocks that blew up an entire dungeon? Turns out they had something similar powering this rocket town and all the people that dwell within the rocket town.

Weeo Weeo Weeo Wild Arms alert!

The Teardrop was the number one macguffin of Wild Arms (1). Your playable princess started the game with it as a family heirloom/tool, but you lost track of it around the end of the prologue when said princess had to trade it to demonkind (and Siegfried!) to save her whole kingdom from being destroyed. Or… further destroyed, I guess. Then, a significant portion of the game was simply the quest to get the Teardrop back, and it was eventually discovered the gem had god-level power tracing back to ancient times. It could power ancient machines and revive demon parasite monsters equally effectively.

In other words, the Teardrop was your basic RPG “most important object in the universe” item, and is probably best likened to the recurring crystals of Final Fantasy. For a Wild Arms fan, this moment is like hearing, “it says here the ancient king used a sword named -Excalibur-.”

Yep, that’s our teardrop.

Yeah, we need to get it. Duh.

Jet, it was so nice when you weren’t talking for, like, half the game.

At least he’s more of a team player, now. Let’s go find the Teardrop!

“Clive, did this ancient civilization leave a note?”

Two dungeons in a row where Virginia finds nothing, but is overly optimistic. Do you think the Hope Medium is leaking?

Uh… guess we have to see ourselves out.

Jet? Shut-up.

Thanks for filling in that potential plot hole, Clive.

Really nothing to do here, eh? Fine, we’ll leave.

Luckily, we don’t have to walk all the way backwards through the dungeon, as narration sees us to the exit.

Yes… I wonder… Does this remind you of anyone special, Virginia?

Someone with fancy boots?

And an entire family of misfits?

Guardians bless the Wild Arms 3 artist that decided this woman needed a distinct sneezing character portrait.

Hey everybody! It’s Maya! Bet you didn’t see that coming!

Wild Arms 3’s #1 reason for needing a remake with voice acting confirmed.

Aw, all sorts of brotherly love this update.

So, looks like these yokels are having a good time in the middle of nowhere.

She gets so insensitive when she hasn’t seen Virginia for a while.

“Seriously! Where are we!? This whole planet has like, twenty landmarks!”

What a coincidence! We were just talking about that!

(flashbacks to earlier times)

Combine the information we just acquired with Maya’s comments/actions before, and you’ll realize the Teardrop was always Maya’s goal. This also explains why she was always in "ancient ruins" and so informed about the artifacts therein.

Though there may be a reason she hasn’t found her prize yet.

Claiborne! Use our omniscient narration powers to write down that clue for later!

Apparently the Schrodinger family has the ability to get NPCs to talk about something other than craters.

Girl, in that corset, your gut can barely eke out a grumble, left alone a feeling.

Oh no you didn’t.

Taking a shortcut can lead you astray, Maya.

I swear the odds of dynamic camera angles upticks roughly 1000% when Maya is around.

May as well chase down every lead. It beats getting a real job.

Alfred is shy around strangers, but seems to be the only one capable of actually standing up to his sister.

Mostly.

So “we” don’t have a lead to the next dungeon, but let’s say we just know that heading back to Claiborne is our best bet.

And we could fly our big honking airship over to that one-horse town…

But we just got a new tool, so let’s stop back at the Ark of Destiny first.

Fun fact: for some inscrutable reason, the Ark of Destiny library has a second floor that is only accessible via grappling hook. This is what happens when you accept architectural contributions from billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne.

Guardians do not only reside within physical power. Guardians can also exist within the heart, acting as the power that sustains life. These guardians are classified as guardian lords, governing love, courage, hope, and desire. These four powers normally exist in the heart, paving a way for the future…However, in today’s world, love, courage, and hope have disappeared, and desire has been warped. The guardian lords have been deprived of all their power, and are on the brink of extinction. They have transformed their will into a rock, and wait patiently for a true warrior to arrive…They wish to entrust the power that sustains life to this warrior, so that he may bring forth a future…

So now we can access what I believe are the final readable books in this Let’s Play. Note that we are nowhere near done with this game, we’ve just run out of towns.

Our first book is a really useless “clue” on finding the Guardian Lords. The townsfolk at Baskar are more helpful than this.

Are we under attack by UFOs!? There have been many reported sightings of UFOs this year! This issue will give you a first hand account of an alien encounter! Six young boys witnessed a red shining object falling from the sky. They called in the local sheriff to investigate the scene with them. As they got closer and closer, an irritating odor began to emanate. When they finally reached the scene, what they saw was unbelievable–a silver, flat object, about eight yards in diameter was emitting a red light. All of a sudden… An alien, about ten feet tall with beady eyes appeared before them!! This alien was the source of that terrible smell, and it began to float in the air, moving about in a sliding motion. Frightened out of their minds, the six boys and the sheriff ran from the nearest town. Half an hour later, when others came to investigate the scene, all that was left was that terrible stench, with nothing else in sight. What did the alien want? Why did he visit this planet? These are questions we would like to discuss in next month’s issue…

Guardians help us all, this is another sidequest “clue”. If we want to claim this book is useful, it obliquely references the fact that when we discover aliens, we should equip protections against (smelly) status effects.

Note also that this book confirms the widespread usage of the imperial measuring system in Filgaia.

This is the only book on this floor sealed by a duplicator.

The Ice Queen has been assigned to guard Mimir’s Well, the place where wisdom is granted. The Ice Queen is a powerful entity stored within Hyades’ data. It will eliminate the target without affecting the surrounding area. The activation password is: ’emeth’. It is a foreign word which means truth. I believe this password and the entity are appropriate for guarding Mimir’s Well. The Ice Queen will target anyone who has not been registered with an authorized pattern, so please be careful. Non-council members should not set foot in Mimir’s Well.

This is some cool lore that will be relevant for the second-to-last dungeon. We will revisit this book when it is applicable. Also, once again, we have confirmation that Hebrew is an ancient language on Filgaia.

Survey Point #08 was named the [Cradle of the Metal Gods] after the folklore about the Deus Ex Machina. The excavation of the ruin faced difficulties from the get go, as the ruin was located high atop a cliff where access was difficult. A plan to penetrate the ruin from underground was devised, and work began on converting a cave into a tunnel, which would lead into the ruin. The initial construction point began at coordinates X:8296, Y:22777. This was to be a large step forward for the Order. The tunnel construction was proceeding smoothly, until a sudden cave-in halted all operations. Construction has been put on hold indefinitely until a plan is devised to remove the debris.

And our final book is a clue to a dungeon that will be a little closer on the timeline… but we still have a few more sections to go. Note that despite the fact that this book straight up gives you exact coordinates to the dungeon, you will not be able to activate/find the place until talking to a specific NPC at the time it is relevant. I did not realize this, and probably wasted about fifteen minutes smacking the radar button in one useless circle…

Now that we are done reading, it’s back to the basement.

First, we will use a duplicator to find a room where you need to use that newly acquired grappling hook for some minor treasure.

And then we will use another duplicator to access the pain zone.

The Ark of Destiny contains a series of rooms in its basement that all require different tools you find from about the midpoint of Wild Arms 3 on. This room might be confusing, though, as it contains no treasures or puzzles, just a miscolored save robot. We know that the Ark of Destiny maintains all of the world’s save ‘bots, but this little dude that just jiggles and refuses to save your game is… perplexing.

But, by process of elimination with the other rooms, you may determine that this room is the only place where using Gallows’s Kramer Dolls is the right solution.

And then you may determine you’ve made a terrible mistake.

At least he does a happy little dance.

So Bombur here is a bona fide super boss. A great many guides will recommend you do not even attempt this maniac until the end of the game.

But I come here with the full knowledge of another Wild Arms 3 playthrough or two, so I know what I am doing. I can handle this!

Bombur is one of the easier “super bosses”. It has a general physical attack that isn’t too bad…

And Clive’s ATT Plus-boosted attack is going to be bad for Bombur.

Bombur also has the ability to inflict Amnesia on a character. You generally want to cure that immediately just so you can enjoy Bombur’s large experience cache.

Nine times out of ten, Bombur is not a threat.

But then it uses Wheel Laser, and half your party can lose half its health.

There is no guaranteed defense against Wheel Laser. This is why a lot of people recommend you simply come back when you have more levels/HP.

But honestly? It’s RNG, and the guardians were smiling upon me this time. Wheel Laser was only used once or twice, and Gallows with Weakness and Clive with ATT Plus were able to wear down the robot quickly. This is an “easy” super boss, because its greatest strength is random, and it is found inches away from an inn and save point. Just try again if you find yourself being lasered.

Hit me with your Prism Stick. Je t’adore, ich liebe.

Prism Stick adds the ability SOS FP Boost. This ability is already part of Raftina/Love Medium’s oeuvre, and is only useful in extremely limited situations. Given you have to “consume” the one Prism Stick you will ever find (in the Abyss, there is the Demiurgos random monster that has a 1% drop rate… but we already covered what a crap shoot that can be…), it is hard to choose who “gets” this skill. Clive and his eventual Final Arts would make sense, but he already has his skill points going to so many things…

And that’s that. Bombur sticks around, but you cannot fight him over and over again. He will actually be “used” by another tool at a later date.

Okay! Back on track! To Claiborne!

Here we are. Do you guys have any dragon chow for my ride?

You know what? Let’s not go there. It’s a silly place.

Ka Dingel is that dungeon where Janus lost his humanity in more ways than one. It was the big finale of Chapter 1, and now we are back with tools that absolutely wreck those meager puzzles of the past.

Way back when, we fought a turtle about halfway up this tower. After the fight, this mysterious object appeared. Now it is time to deal with this thingy…

(the old version)

(the new hotness)
Same caveat as Bombur: you should wait until the end of the game to fight this monster if you are not accompanied by an adult. I am a glutton for punishment, though.

Turtle punishment.

Power Trask is similar to Boring Trask in that he has ridiculous physical defense. That’s 99 damage from a character that normally does slightly better.

And missiles that do some significant damage.

Boring Trask was a puzzle fight with two solutions: you could crack his shell with fire and ice magic to allow physical attacks through, or just focus exclusively on magic. Power Trask is now invulnerable to shell cracks, and he is similarly armored up against all elemental attacks.

Are about to become Trask’s latest pizza topping?

Well, apparently Clive is such a powerhouse at this point, Power Trask’s defenses don’t mean $^&@. That helps!

But the real winner here is the spell that you knew was coming if you were paying attention. Power Trask is resistant to all elemental attacks, which means this is one of the few situations where (likely glitched) Dark Luceid actually works.

And boy howdy does it work. Weakness does not boost this damage, but if Gallows has a decent magic stat, you have your solution to this fight.

Power Trask’s signature move will occur after it absorbs enough damage. Technically, this kind of high defense battle could last forever (just ask anyone that has ever felled a Shuckle), but Contaminated Crust will turn the arena into poison. Now everyone in your party loses a big chunk of HP every round regardless of Trask’s attacks.

And, no, disappointingly enough, equipping any kind of poison protection will not prevent Contaminated Crust damage. It is just a blanket percentage of your HP drained every round.

But Contaminated Crust means you are doing some damage, so keep it up, and you should be in the clear in no time. A fun option is to use the Time Medium’s Replay command on Gallows so he does the inordinate Dark Luceid damage twice. You’ll shred your opponent into turtle soup!

And our reward is Golden Dawn. Damn, does that sound a lot more interesting than it actually is. This provides the Lifebringer skill, which, at maximum points, will mean your VIT gauge holds five times your maximum HP (as opposed to just one times your max). This is great for the Abyss and arguably useless everywhere else on the planet. You’re never that far from an inn…

Oh! The Playstation 5 version got a trophy for our efforts here. Oddly, this has nothing to do with the super boss, Guardians of Filgaia is a trophy for getting everyone over level 50. Super bosses do help with that experience point count…

Our “normal” party is getting pretty strong here by soaking up all this sidequest experience… but hey! They’re not complete monsters yet…

Welcome to Claiborne (again). Some of the locals are still trying to lead us to sidequests we have already completed.

Thank you, Pike. You’re always useful.

Pretty normal day!

Myra gives us the distinct directions to our next dungeon.

Otto is also on the same page. A lot of this sounds pretty fishy, though…

Whatever, let’s see if we can find this Pokémon tower.

Certainly doesn’t sound like a trap!

Next time on Wild Arms: The final battle.