Golden Sun: Dark Dawn -- 36 hours in.

[rozzlynn]

Back in Passaj with the Sol Mask, pretty much everyone Matthew talked to commented on the mask, so the group was clearly showing it off, but not one NPC knew what it was. Baghi and the elders were locked away in the meeting room until we started the Alchemy forge, so we couldn't let them know immediately that we were back with the key to their town's revitalisation, but they hadn't seemed secretive about their request that we go fetch it for them, so why would they keep everyone else in town in the dark about it? And why would Matthew and the others be all "See, cool mask, huh? Now run along, nothing else to see here, no history in the making, nothing you'd want to tell your grandkids about years from today, nope, so you all just stay out here and run around like headless chickens when the revival of your forge and the transformation of your hometown take you by surprise." They may be the heroes, but these kids are jerks. ~.~

Let's say Matthew and Tyrell split off from the other three when they first got into town to take care of different chores before meeting up at the forge; then only the two of them for whom it'd be most IC would've been guilty of the worst immaturity. You'd have thought Amiti would know better, having friends there - or at least one friend; Bogho acted like it was unusual for Amiti to be the one making the trip, so I guess Baghi more often visits Ayuthay. Kinda creepy of Bogho to want to treat Amiti better for being part of the family whose job is to run a place; is he saying he wants to treat everyone else worse? I guess we're gonna see more of that kind of attitude in gs3 than before; good to see the heroes still have no problem keeping up the straight talk with everyone, same as their parents. Rief may be polite and Tyrell may be blunt, but they're all *there*, talking face to face. It's the factor that made Hydros awesome. :D

Up on the cloud platform, when they fell through the mist, was Tyrell really about to attack Baghi for not somehow being able to tell them that it wouldn't work? Well done Karis for being the one to stop him. Though when they were trying to explain the Sand Prince, Tyrell's summary of 'the guy who's really a gemstone and only Amiti can hear him speak' was kinda perfect; almost makes it worth Tyrell being on the team. And it did actually clarify things a bit; the Sand Prince kinda seemed like another summon. Though I guess that's roughly what summons are, too, even when they're embodiments of larger or more ephemeral things and they let more people hear them.

Oh, but that Ice Queen plot, that was a turn for the worse. To see those kids discussing a beautiful woman who selfishly and evilly uses her looks to make men fall for her, who needs to be put back in her place... Ugh, I felt sick whenever that came up. They didn't refer to the Ice Queen as some nonhuman demon that had to be found and nobly defeated, they talked about her as some woman with a problem who had to be found and dragged away even if she put up a fight - and no hint of the summon-style 'prove your strength to me' attitude like with the Sand Prince. You can't take the most mysogynistic of real- world attitudes about women in general, and say "it's literal in this case so she really is a villain", and then set a bunch of kids against the metaphor without doing anything to mask what it's a metaphor *for*, and then have her cry out in despair while the kids show utter disinterest, and then have one of the kids actually say "at least we put her in her place..." I hope I never see or hear anyone say *that* again. Or "put him in his place", for that matter. :/

At least one of them did say something afterwards about feeling sorry for her, which kept the lot of them from seeming quite as creepy, but too little too late to keep that arc from being disturbing. I guess if they don't have all those nasty stereotypes on Weyard, about women being flirts and bitches and enemies, I could understand the kids taking that one instance as literally as it might have appeared, but if the game keeps on heading this way, it's gonna hit a wallbanger threshold. The comments about Chalis using her looks were an unpleasant surprise in the encyclopedia, but at least she's really all about information and politics and charisma, and it would be easy to imagine her playing that part in an outfit more like Meisa's, or anyone else's. (And, see, there's a nice image, Chalis borrowing clothes from Meisa in the morning... :3 I wanna draw a doujinshi~~ If I could draw, I guess. XD )

Weird to see Nyunpa pop up in the middle of that arc. His mind was weak because he was near enlightenment? Okaay... And then he just wandered off. Eh. Guess he really is an empty-headed monk.

The Cloud Passage was so atmospheric, when we finally reached it. All that sky... I saved before dropping through the storm clouds to see what would happen; the extra layer of clouds and items worked pretty well. It would've made the later part of the level slightly tough if the fall were a one-hit kill, but it would've been funny to see a "And then they plummeted to their deaths" screen. :3

"Our capital lies entombed against the end of the world. But one path remains." The ruins at the peak were so ghostly, not least because you get through by literally setting the cogs of that ancient society in motion, and you still leave it an empty tomb. Don't know why the others had to go all ellipses on Tyrell for noticing that the smell of food was missing along with every other sign of life; perfectly efficient observation. A society like that wouldn't have gone up in smoke overnight; their message must have hung over the kids' heads as they tried to figure out which path they were being forced to walk. 'Our capital lies entombed because the end of the world is the only remaining path', or 'Even after we've closed up shop, there's still one way to keep everything from folding.'

Meeting Sveta was interesting, while dealing with the defensive lot at Te Rya. Totally *yay* about finally coming across the party's mind reader; it was a shame you couldn't start Spirit Sensing all the NPCs right after the Teppe Ruins, I love how that almost doubles the context you get from the towns, but I guess plot beats out NPCs. Just about. :3 Interesting to see Karis and Tyrell verbally circling each other outside the Teppe Ruins, too; so they *can* get along sometimes. Totally with Rief about the <.<;

Ah, and Sveta's a lovely addition in battle, going from svelte and awesome to wolfy and awesome - and you can tell that her outfit's good when the colours suit her perfectly in both forms. Rose , purple and gold might clash a bit on some people, but the more pastel shade of her hair or fur seems to set it off, and it gives her quite a strong warm glow, while the patterns on the inner tunic keep it delicate. Matches her attitude, in a way.

When the party headed out across the open plains of Morgal, it was nice and clear that we only had to avoid Belinsk to map out everywhere else before things kicked off. Had a bunch of random items to sell off in the shops at Port Rago. It was good to hear people chatting about Piers; sounds like he's doing well for himself, and we'll be seeing him around soon ~~

Saha town was alright for information; didn't realise how quickly I'd wind up in Kolima just by looking round. Pretty fun, signing up to ingest the local specialty and have a poke round a nightmarish dream land. "Why are we here again?" "Because Matthew can be talked into anything." :D

Freezing and melting that massive spike of ice on the leaf -- such a pretty way of switching the environment round. I think I'd have to call that one my second or third favourite level so far, since it managed to get a little unpredictable and dreamy. Kinda lol to find a guy calling us bullies for killing the swamp creature, in amongst all the happy people. And I guess we'll be heading for Imil in a bit, for more water of Hermes; nice to get all this continuity after going a while without hearing how the places we knew made it through thirty years of instability.

Not much going on in Border Town; had a quick blast round the mines and headed over to Belinsk. Interesting place. One of the beastmen talked about being a normal human 30 years ago and gradually growing fur/claws/etc, and another one talked about being a normal dog 30 years ago before starting to walk and talk and all the rest. According to a third NPC, most beastmen used to be human, but the ones who used to be animals give you so much more to think about. One of those things that makes it clear all kinds of random shit can happen on Weyard.

Seeing any mention of boiling Eoleo was just 'nonononono' - not gonna go there. Saw him hanging in the cage, and I know he's thirty something here, but having seen him as a toddler must count for a lot; I couldn't help but think, "No, you are *not* boiling the baby; let him down and give him back to mommy, there's a good city." Didn't really help that the 3d chibis leave age so ambiguous; he could've still been a kid and still looked that way dangling outside the palace.

Pity we didn't meet Kraden, but heading out to see Briggs was just as good. Kinda nice to see Amiti objecting to helping the pirates; as awesome as rescuing Eoleo sounds, it'd be weird if none of the kids had qualms about helping people with that kind of reputation. If they've been preying on the coast round there... I guess it depends on the extent that they act like video game pirates vs actual pirates. Briggs seemed to stick to stealing stuff and fighting when met with a fight last game; there were a few NPCs who said that not many people were actually hurt in the raids. That was the start of it, though, when Champa had only recently fallen on hard times. I'll be waiting along with Karis to see what they're like now, but we're saving Briggs' son regardless. :P Briggs seems to have aged well, considering his lifestyle. A lot of people are aging well. Can't wait to see Mia and Piers soonish. :3

Briggs' gift was nice and all, even if it means we're not going to Imil quite so soon. Laurel and Tret were a whole lot more amusing this time; not that it wasn't fun enough chatting to a couple of magic trees last game, but something about meeting them halfway to the canopy, hearing that they're ancient and watching Tret spill family secrets really made them a little awesomer here. Slightly suprised to hear that they're Waelda who've already been powerful for centuries, as I thought I remembered something about the Psynergy stones from Mt Aleph's eruption giving them their powers; gotta check the script sometime. It might have only been talking about a few specific extra powers or something, rather than the start of their existence as what they are.

Good on Amiti for seeing them as something special, anyway. Reminds me of a bit in one of the flashbacks in Saiyuki, where the deceptively wise zen master meets the series' evil genius as a student, and after listening to him complain that mastering xyz degrees and careers is all too easy and boring, responds that "If everything you do is boring, then you must be a very boring person." Amiti's the complete opposite; he recognises beauty and divinity all over the place, and it makes him an adorable little miracle. :D

Up on the peak, slapping the roc was... strange. Good thing Sveta wasn't there. It made a good boss fight, though; I almost thought we were going to leave without seeing how we measured up. I can kinda see how the creature could create weather, being that size, though I was more expecting something the size of a stadium; if it'd been that way, the feather plot probably wouldn't have included a fight, especially with being divine to those in Morgal and everything. I do feel kinda bad for killing it, with rocs being so rare, but at least the people below are a little safer now. Ryu Kou's still a jerk; there probably wasn't much difference, for him, between 'he wants to power up the machine for us because he knows we would feel bad about it' and 'I want to get on with it because you won't', since his sister was all he cared about there, but I can understand Karis trying to frame it in a way that she could feel better about.

I popped over to see Briggs before the showdown to let him know we were ready, and got a whole load of "I can't do anything without my ship." Can't blame anyone for thinking that was nonsense, but I can't say he made the wrong call, either, in trying to get the repairs finished at the last minute - though the fact that it wasn't his crew or their contractors who finished the repairs still calls his judgement into question.

Street music gets pretty spectacular in the capital. The shifting walls in the ruins wouldn't have been so much of a problem if they'd been able to get the roc feather back to Isaac first... Bet they wish they'd packed a thirty foot pole. I don't know quite what Karis expected when she told Matthew it was his choice whether they carried on or tried to find a way back; clearly one of the benefits of not being the leader is not having to admit that it's a choice between continuing on or camping out by the outermost wall until they all starve to death. (Though if they'd tried the hunger strike approach, Chalis and Blados probably would have turned up eventually to lay out a picnic & drag them over to the tower.)

Everyone was mad at Ryu Kou's group when they thought they were tailing them on top of everything else, but as soon as they admit that they don't know where they're going either, they rejoin the party? What, does incompetence automatically land people in the 'protagonist' camp? Was there seriously not a single opportunity throughout the whole of the ruins to pin Ryu Kou and take back the orb? Well, the final floors were beautiful, especially the descent after you slap the sun. Gotta compare the map by the last gate with the ones on the floor in Lemuria sometime. Heh, casting a shadow over the map when you light up the pillars - they're really not leaving you in any doubt about how dark and ominous the dynamo is, are they?

And we met up with everyone inside. Nice to see Chalis again; still indifferent to Blados. Though it's clear Rief isn't. :D Tyrell was alright there; his temper works so much better when it's directed against actual enemies - I guess because it gives the false impression that he's in control of it. :P Decent fight, anyway; finally got to see the battle sprites for the Tuaparang pair, and Blados' design works tons better that way, with the massive sword balanced across his shoulders in that wide arc. :3 Big swords salvage anything. <3

Got to wonder why Alex didn't want to be the one to physically place the orb on the pedestal. Will there be magical/Alchemical consequences facing the one to break that seal, or is it all about the politics of Ryu Kou acknowledging messing with Morgal? Anyway, nice that he had so much faith in our ability to escape without hitching a lift along with them. :/

Headed for the palace after grabbing Eclipse. Kinda wanted to kick the staff who were all sour about not being allowed to boil Eoleo anymore. Why was the group still talking about 'rescuing' Eoleo and Hou Ju - weren't they listening when the NPCs told us we were there right on schedule to pick those two up? I tried to head left first, and Ryu Kou stopped Matthew to ask if he was really going to rescue the pirate before the princess; since he was all "I can't stop you, but I'm seriously questioning your judgement", I thought that meant he *wasn't going to stop me*, but I got the scene again when I tried to carry on. Idiot brother - they were both perfectly safe, but Eoleo was stuck outside at night in a cage swaying from a chain, damn it. When we got to Hou Ju's room, though, there was plot, so I guess it had to be that way round. Yay for Kraden! Heh, "Is that what he's calling himself these days" - it's definitely good to have Kraden back. <3

Nice to meet Eoleo too; he's got quite a mouth on him. There was no way he wouldn't be feeling prickly in that situation, but I didn't figure he'd be so much fun right off the bat. :3 Would he rather Amiti *wasn't* fully dressed?

Considering what a good thing the Lighthouses and the Alchemy Well are, and how many dire warnings against Alchemy we had to ignore to save the planet, fertilise the land, etc, I wasn't too unhappy about having to ignore Laurel's warning and see the Dynamo in action. You'd expect catches and other problems, but the party's just gotta solve them too. That line, about the difference between Luna Tower and the Lighthouses being that its makers had never wanted to see it activated, tipped the scales of ominousness, but still, seeing that much chaos break loose... 'Dark Dawn' is apt alright, for this one. And only Kraden made any effort to evacuate the people beforehand. Well. Bastards. I guess it's getting exciting, and it'll be good to see how it all plays out, but with all the wholesale slaugher, it seems like they might be edging away from the shades of grey thing in this game. Just slightly. o.0

Over at the opera house, no sign of Sveta's brother; while I had no real problem with the random woman's request that we side with the chandelier, I do wish one or two party members could've split off to protect her as well. I kinda thought the graveyard afterwards was about Volechek too, until we saw him wave goodbye and make a stupidly long throw from up on the tower. Sure, he was being dramatic, but if he'd missed, they'd all have been screwed.

And Briggs is out already. At least we got to see him at his best; it's a stark contrast to the way the last game left him, hiding in bed faking a cold. Poor Eoleo and Sveta. I hope we get to see more of the crew; I imagine they'll find Eoleo's decision to make Matthew captain a liiittle bit strange.

• Explanation 1: Eoleo didn't want to take over as captain immediately, because he needed time and space to grieve away from all the frenzy that would come with running the ship, but he didn't want to let any of the permanent crew take the position, lest they keep hold of it for rather longer than he'd like.
• Explanation 2: Since Matthew's the Prince of Pirates (assuming Isaac's still unbeaten), Eoleo and the other pirates are compelled to defer to him.

Stopped at Harun to chat and shop, then had a bit more of a look around Weyard before exploring the whole of the island at the edge of the eclipse; Kraden may have advised us to find somewhere like that to hunt for general information, but after leaving the mainland all apocalypsey, the kids were bound to have other things on their minds. Kraden didn't make any mention of Nowell until we'd been round the coast of Angara (no way to get the feather to Isaac, or see how Mia's holding up in Imil, or even enter some town or other in Morgal to trigger a cutscene explaining where Kraden left Rief's sister), back to Ayuthay (Paith's on his deathbed? Are we going to get a break in the dramatic familial deaths any time soon? But, hey, treasure...), then Champa (Obaba's alive and awesome as ever!), Tonfon (more loot~), Yamata (Kushinada's daugher is ill and warning people that Isaac's in danger?), Tonfon again (tricked our way into grabbing the echo gem so that we could find Hinechou's kids, but we probably could have just asked), Icicle Outpost, Harun, Yamata, Icicle Outpost (must have been hard to try to sail the storm in that ship - how did they survive as long as they did out there?), Tonfon (yeah, yeah, Hou Ju, I don't care if your brother likes Matthew, he's so much more trouble than he's worth)... and on the way out, Kraden finally mentioned something about Nowell eloping with Piers.

Seriously, Kraden? You forgot to mention it? Ah, why would he wait until Rief brought it up to let him know? Shouldn't he have assumed that if Rief went a while without asking under those circumstances, it was 'cause he noticed Kraden's silence and feared the worst? Rief may have said that it skipped his mind too, but I'm not sure he'd admit to letting it psych him out in front of everyone, with Kraden acting like there was never anything to worry about. Considering the last Nowell saw of Rief, it's hard to believe she'd pick following up on a crush over finding out whether her little brother's okay, but whatever the important suprise that they're preparing is, it sounds like that's the real reason she split off.

It's reassuring to know that Nowell and Piers are ready to bring in the cavalry, anyway; things weren't stacking up too well. When I was talking to the elders at Passaj, one of them said something about aiming the Apollo lens, and that was when it struck me that it might not just be a fixed lens built facing the Luna Tower for solely this purpose, but a lens that you can, duh, aim. Combined with what the villager in Yamata said about Himi prophecising that Isaac's in danger... I hope Matthew isn't about to point a laser at his Dad. That'd be funny, but still, not good. I don't suppose we're going to be left alone to aim it where we will... though with this being 'only the beginning', we're not going to see the end until we've sorted out the Mourning Moon as well as the Eclipse. (The former sounded almost as destructive as the latter, from Isaac's description.) Would the Apollo lens' beam dissipate vortexes, the way Douse disipated the sandstorms in Suhalla Desert? It wouldn't take that much to destroy the little machines that were linked to the vortexes, but correllation isn't necessarily causation and all that.

Ah, well, we'll see. I've almost got all the Umbra Gear. The ancients must have been pretty spooked, scattering even their protective clothing to the four corners of the map. I kinda wanted the chance to screw with the antagonists before using the three orbs, after hearing of that "They'll already have the first one" remark from Unan - we could so totally have bluffed for five minutes with "Oh, that weapon Sveta's brother stole from you? Yeah, he said it was incredibly dangerous, so we tossed it over Gaia falls; now it'll never fall into the wrong hands. What, was it important...?"