The Mysterious Cities of Gold - Season 3 - Episode 2 - Le Daimyo Shimazu

Always fun to see a familiar face

Second episode starts out with the children being attacked by the guardian of the orichalcum thing, but after he spotted their medalions he stopped and instead showed them where they could place them. This allowed the machine to fill with water, opening it and forming some kind of women of the water atop of it. I don't know what she said, but I gathered it had something to do with a mirror shield being the key... key to what I would assume another city of gold.

Then we see Gaspard training the lords troops in rifle combat and almost killing the lord. He's only saved by a peasant informing about the crashed airship at the rice field. The lord, Gaspard and militia arive and captures Ambrosius who is thrown in the same cell as Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro. Ambrosius is called to the lord that believes him to be a spy, but Ambrosius is able to sway him and that he would help in their war against their neighbours if he could get help in fixing his airship. When questioned by the three spaniards I believe he sold them out as spies in order to get rid of them. I'm not sure by the subtitles, but if that was the case I really hate him now. And I still don't know why he tries to find the cities of gold.

Meanwhile the fisher girl from earlier arrives to her grandfather that as I said was the guardian of the orichalcum machine. Apparently it's believed to be a gift from the god of the sea and will protect them from something. Volcanic eruption looming? Anyway they head back to the village to get the condor, spot the fisher boy as he have been drafted into the militia and then discovered by Gasparard. Estaban lead him onto a goose chase while the other boards the boat and after knocking Gaspard out Estaban joins them. At the condor Estaban tries to swim to it, but is caught in the seaweed and struggles to get out... even though he have always been carrying a knife? Zia and the fisher girl jumps in instead as the girl have been catching pearls in the water and know how to avoid the sea weed. And it's a wonderful sequence with synthesizer music. And we are only in episode 2, last season it wasn't until the middle of the season we got good at the music department.

As Zia and the girl enters the Condor the cockpit have a pocket of air, but as they are about to lift the machine locks it self down. The others look up and the clouds are blocking the sun and at the same time several sharks are swimming around the condor, trapping the kids in it. And that ends the episode. Wow. Does the condor know before that the sun is going to be obscured? It doesn't really make sense.

The documentary was of the Castle of the White Heron, I don't know it's real name since the subtiles called it Jim, but you know the one. The white castle that is iconic for japanese fortresses. 

You know, this one.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold - Season 3 - Episode 1 - Kagoshima

Finally!!!

So since there doesn't appear to be an english version out yet, even though the french version been out for 2 years, a desperate man have to do what he have to do. He looks it up on Youtube and rely on the automatic translator that the site provides with extremely small knowledge of the french language. 

So it starts of with a small recap of the last episode of season two and it starts with Ambrosius loading his ship, but he has three companions in hoods that help him, One is a female I gather from the voice. They also seem to load Estabans father from the ship to the Olmec flying machine... I guess since it looks like Ambrosius leaves without him. 

Meanwhile the kids and Mendoza have reached Japan and are nearing I assume Kagoshima (due to the title). The condor takes over and try to land in a forest, but since it can't find a great spot to land give back control to Estaban that fly them towards a cliff before the sun gets down. After making camp an earthquake happens and the condor falls into the water. They are picked up by some kid fisherman and his sister that have to take them to the local lord. Arriving Mendoza spots a portuguese ship and gets an idea. He proclaim himself ambassador of Spain for the townspeople and occupy the local guard enough so that the kids can get away and then gets on the ship and uses some law for protection between Spain and Portugal, but the captain of the ship is none other than Gaspard who somehow survived the ordeal at Eldorado and ended up as a portugese weapons dealer. They don't explain how or what happened to Gomez. 

The kids leave town as an ash cloud hits the village and wander the forest until they find some sort of orichalcum orb at a spirit gate, guarded by some old man in a mask (I would assume its the fisher siblings grandfather they mentioned earlier in the episode) following them closely and then jumping out while Tao pushes some kind of button that activates the machine.

At the same time Ambrosius have reached Japan and Kagoshima, but he flew through the ash cloud that destroyed his engines so he crash landed in a rice field. I know that was what happened since volcanic ash clouds have that effect on machinery which the whole world learned when the Icelandic volcano erupted a couple years back.

And the documentary at the end talks briefly about Japan and the spirit gates.

I gotta say it's hard following what happens when I can't fully understand them, but at the moment I get the gist of everything having some understanding of the cultural and historical setting of Japan and some familiarity with certain elements like the crash explained above, but the intrigue between the japanese lords and what not is gonna be a problem.

Final Fantasy II (GBA)

The sequel

Just like Final Fantasy II I got this also on PSOne, but as stated, no TV and not available to me at the moment so let's play this. 

First enemy of the game, I'm f***ed!

So it begins when the Empire attack the kingdom of Flynn that forces Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon to escape their home. Maria and Leon is siblings and Guy is a "nature child" who was raised by animals while Firion is some kind of best friend I believe. After the intro attack Firion, Maria and Guy wakes up in the rebels hideout. Leon is missing. Firion & Co want to join the rebels, but princess Hilda says no, so you sneak into Flynn anyway. There you meet Scott, one of the princes of Kashuan at his deathbed as he protected everyone fleeing the castle during the attack. Returning to the rebels with Scott's ring you get aloud in and tasked with checking up on some mythril deposit in the north after talking with Josef from Salamand. With that you know have equipped the rebellion so they can fight back, but unfortunately news reach them that the Empire is finishing of the construction of the Dreadnought, a gigantic airship. 

I feel like playing Empire of Steel again

So you have to head to Kashuan to get the Sunfire to drop in the engine to blow it up. Scott's brother Gordon tries the same thing, but joins up with you at the castle. Returning the Dreadnought have captured princess Hilda riding on Cid's airship (Cid is a recurring character in every Final Fantasy game, often having something to do with airships). So a rescue operation is on the way. You rescue the princess and blow the ship up. But it wasn't the princess but a lamia disguising as Hilda. So off to the arena to rescue her. Meanwhile Minwu the white mage that saved you in the beginning have been missing in the search for the spell Ultima. Following in his footsteps you get eaten by the leviathan where you meet Ricard, the last of the Dragoons and together you climb a tower where Minwu uses his life force to break the lock on Ultima. You return, take back Flynn, but the Emperor summons a cyclone that wreck havoc on the rebels. Firion & Co awakens the last wyvern and storm right in fighting the Emperor at the top ending his evil reign. But it's not over since the Emperors Dark Knight have taken over. So you look for Cid who is dying of the wounds from the cyclone and hands you the airship so you can enter the Empires capital from the air. Battling to the top the Dark Knight is... Leon, but before you can do anything the Emperor returns from Hell and only with the sacrifice of Ricard does Firion and the others escape. Leon joins you and you know have to travel to Hell to fight the Emperor. 

And this one didn't come to the West?

You beat the Emperor and the End pretty much. The story is really good in my mind. Characters you meet during the adventure dies left and right. They incorporated a buzzword system so you could learn certain words and then ask them to get more information. So why is this regarded as one of the worst games in the Final Fantasy-series? Because they also implemented a new way to "level up" by removing it and focusing what you use is what you get. Including different spells and weapon types. Again they have refined it in the GBA game since I didn't grind anywhere. Although you have to go out of your way to use magic since MP hardly goes up due to being so limited at the start and then the spells doesn't get effective until something like level 5. And some enemies need to be attacked with magic. Doesn't help that originally it was also a thing that if one stat went up, another went down. Opposing stats that is so magic went up and strength down I believe. Also since it's so long between playthroughs I forget what spells are worth putting time and effort in. For example Haste, Berserk and Osmosis. All protection spells are worth it and I must put time in on Esuna since it never work that well for me. This is basically a reminder to when I get to the PSOne version where I can't save anywhere. I recall save scumming through the end portion of the game last time since I got hammered then, but this time no problem, which apparently is due to me not grinding for 5000 HP and 500 MP giving the magic defence and agility skills opportunity to raise to decent levels making the game much easier. And now I got the extra mode to play through.

I saw this a lot playing that mode

So I screwed up the leveling... again. Minwu and Scott hardly survived the first enemy and Josef didn't add much. Ricard was the only one that stood a chance and appropriate for the end game. So after reaching the town I gave up. So you are supposed to be the dead companions (plus Scott that looks like Gordon who was one of two companions two survive beyond the four main) and travel through another kind of Hell (or it might be heaven) to fight the Emperors "good side". For those that really liked those dead companions (and Ricard and Minwu are the best). This mode doesn't exist on the PSOne version so we will see if I ever finish it.

Overall I personally liked this game. I liked the "leveling up" system and it at least wasn't random like in Legend of Legacy that randomized the stat upgrade (game was made by the same people). The story might be cliched, but as proven time and time again, I can get down with it. And if you are gonna play one version this is probably the best due to the player friendly alterations they did for a modern audience. The music, while not abundant with tracks, is at least enjoyable. I especially like the boss theme. Now, if that is exclusive to the remakes I don't know.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Premiere Edition

At least it was mint condition

So being a fan of the series I also got the other guide and went through to see if it was anything to have. And this was definitely better. just look at the number of pages, this one was 208 pages from start to finish while the first two game needed to share 224 pages. No, it definitely improved with more pages. Really, the first thing was the content page where I quickly can see where every town or dungeon is without problem. The other one only separated it in the different chapters it itself created, but if you don't know where Kolima or Lemuria is supposed to be it can be hard to find. Also a bit fun that they explain how you play the game in more detail here. And best of all there is an actual world map (which is only an enlarged map that came with the game itself, but it's more than what came with the other guide). 

Is something worse then? There is no item/equipment lists like the first guide and still no bestiary. I found at least one instance with some very weird sentence structuring. If it wasn't for the Points of No Return in the game it would be rather worthless. And I don't get why they printed in checkmarks on every box for objectives to complete in every area. Why not have it like the first guide with just empty boxes? And no class list?

Really, in modern times who needs guides like these when everything exists on the web? The only thing is to get the maps, and bestiaries and item lists. And these guides got one out of the three mentioned. I just got them because I'm a sucker for this series and still waits for the continuing story... or now just a remake for modern consoles. At least Crossbone Island is here this time.

Golden Sun & Golden Sun: The Lost Age Prima's Official Strategy Guide

I still love these games

So some time back I got the official strategy guide for the first two Golden Sun games and I thought, maybe read through it and see if it's any good? After all I played the game so much that I know it like the back of my hand. So lets start with the first game.

Best of the bunch!

So first problem reading through the book, there isn't any world map in the whole book. It's not much of a problem in the first game since it's pretty much linear, but it would have been nice for the bearings of where I am in the world. There is also a bit jarring "I" 2 times in the text around Tolbi. I expect that in Online Walkthroughs, but this? It feels a bit unprofessional. And then we have some information I actually miss, for example the whole optional dungeon Crossbone Island. Theres no guide for the different room puzzles, they don't mention the earth djinni Bane which is one of the most powerful ones. They mention it in the list of the djinn's at the start of the guide, but for some reason the stats on Bane and Zephyr isn't written down, which is weird. I also miss that they didn't stat Deadbeard who is one of the tougher bosses in the game. And also that one of the most important items is hidden there, the Cleric Ring which nullifies cursed equipment and is the only place in both games you can find it. Also I think the guide writer got confused on what ship you get to use later on since it is referring to Babi's ship as the one we use at the end of the second game, but that isn't true, it's Piers ship he got from Lemuria.

Thing's I didn't know was that Hsu was Feizi's brother. I don't know if the guide is correct, but it changes at least some of the dynamics and why she is worried. I don't think any people in Xian mentiones it either so how the guide knows that I wouldn't know. The guide also gives me easy checkable lists on what to get on the Tolbi fountain. It's also nice have the weakness of bosses handy and actually learn that some status effects have a possibility to work. And then it's the second game.

Intro music is better though in this one

Right of the bat I get a bad feeling since the first thing is they spell Ivan wrong as Iwan. Secondly is that they mistake Piers ship with Menardi's even though it's stated that Piers was found on it. Then we have the problem of the map when I'm supposed to sail all across the world and don't get any visual clues on how the world looks like. Which poses another problem and that is that the hidden items that exist in the shallow waters of the ocean isn't shown. The rusty weapons are listed at the weapon and armour section since you can bring it to the smith Sunshine, but items aren't since they aren't unique. Which leads to another problem that affects the guide for both games. There isn't any enemy compendium, so say, for example when you read about the Prophet's Hat and that it is a dread hound that have it... where is it? I know it's in Altmiller Cave in the first game and various locations like Gaia Rock in the second game, but it isn't mentioned at all in the guide. This is especially problematic when you think about the forgeable materials that you really need to grind for. They also missed the first bonus for transferring data from the first game and that was fighting the bandits from Vault again as you leave Madra. They missed the golden shoes and they aren't mentioned at all. There's also an inconsistent in how they write this guide since Tolbi fountain had every item in a box which you could tick of, but Lemuria Fountain you got them in the text mentioning what everything is. Why the inconsistency? 

What's good is the guide for the classes which I never bothered with since each normal element are powerful enough, but maybe I should try it with the guide by my side. I miss a bit of content though. Why no mention of the Dark Panther Method? That a djinni of opposite element increase the chance of an item drop. I don't expect them to outline the whole 100 % drop method, but that one is rather important. And the 3 x Select at the naming screen to name other three characters in the game and then the other code to name Felix, Jenna and Sheba at the first game? It's in the game and it's a fun code to use (if you want to since I never use it other than to look that I can do it). It's also nice to have a overview map of towns and dungeons, although it's kinda irritating that if a house is important, like the lord's different castles there ain't any map of the interior.

Really, you don't need this to finish the games and things that are useful like list of forgeable equipment, classes and such you can probably get on GameFAQ, and things that should have been here like Bestiaries and secret codes defintliy exist there since I printed it out ages ago. Had all of that been in these guides I would recommend it as a complement in case you want to 100 % or test different strategies to finish it faster or such, but it doesn't exist here.

Super Mario Run

Mario... on my phone?

So by moving into a city (not the biggest and not the smallest, but on the smaller side) I've now got access to a stable internet connection. Which I can use it to download apps that otherwise drained my monthly dosage of internet connectivity on the phone. And being a Nintendo fan I gotta try the Nintendo apps (and gather some points for the My Nintendo site). So I started with the Super Mario Run (Miitomo was already cancelled so I don't get what that was about).

Mushroom Kingdom

Basically it's a Mario game, you run and jump... or the game runs forward for you all the time. Your job is to jump at the right moment to collect coins and special things, and avoid enemies and pitfalls. Reach the end and your done. There is a story mode where you run to save Princess Peach from Bowser, but that is locked behind paywall after the first world. Each world is 4 stages, just like the original game.

Run To the Hills

There is some other game mods like Remix10 where you do 10 small stages and gotta get to the end gathering special coins. It is a bit a chance if you take the correct route since you can't see the whole stage or replay it so one try only. Also, if you fall into a hole or get hit enough you just skip the stage an goes to the next one. It's a bit addicting actually.

And then you have vs mode where you run against someone else trying to the get the most coins and toads. If you win you get the toads that then lets you get new buildings for the Mushroom Kingdom screen above. What it does I don't know. Overall a fun diversion, but it probably isn't worth it if you don't get the whole game, but I'm not gonna do that at this time. Not saying it would end up in the future, but for now I got more games to go through.

Final Fantasy I (GBA)

The first of many Final Fantasy

I’ve been moving into my own place which means I got to unpack all those boxes I’ve stored on my parents attics (yes, that is multiple attics). And guess what I found, my GBA/DS collection. Unfortunately I can’t find my DS Lite so it has to be somewhere in a box that I yet have to discover. It’s like a real life treasure hunt finding my own stuff, but I would gladly accept finding some kitchen utensils so I can cook something more basic that macaroni. Anyway, lucky for me I knew where my GameBoy Advance SP where, at my sisters place with all my Zelda games because my brother-in-law wanted a go at them at the closest original hardware he could get his hands on. Whats that? They gave it back to my sister that have been living at my parents house for a year and she never told me but put the games in plastic bag near her sleeping place? Well, glad I looked around for my things then since I got it back. So which game should I try first? Well, most GBA games I actually got on the Wii U virtual console so that is the preferred console I would say for those. I still haven’t found my GameBoy-games so no Ducktales 2 or Roger Rabbit (the rest is Mario Land 2 and 3 together with Donkey Kong Land 2 and 3 and all of those I got on the 3DS). So that leaves the Final Fantasy-games, I-II, IV-VI. I could play them on my PS3 with the PSOne-discs but first I don’t have a TV and secondly it seems I haven’t got the games with me either so Final Fantasy I it is on GBA. 

Now I'm playing with power

This one is a double pack game with both I and II in it together with some other stuff like extra dungeons or in II case a whole new story scenario after completing the main game, but I’m gonna focus on the first game only. It starts out like any typical fantasy RPG. The world is in turmoil due to the elements being out of balance since the four crystals of the elements have gone dark and there is talk about a prophesy about four warriors of light bearing their own crystals. So you name four characters and chose their respective class. I usually go for the fighter, thief, white mage and black mage.  Now, I brought back the names from my Quest for Glory playthorughs (which I probably should finish of some day) with the Warrior Roland and Black Mage Magus. I never played as a thief so I gave it my own name and the white mage I gave one of my middle names, Erik. So you arrive at Corneria where the knight Garland have taken princess Sarah hostage and the king wants you to save her and he will rebuild the bridge to the north if we do. Selfish prick. So I set out to town to stock up on supplies. And I can’t help that they must have made the game easier cause I could afford every weapon, armour and spell in town. I think on the PSOne I had to grind to get the things, like in Dragon Quest where you need to at least be level 5 to even attempt the starter dungeon. Anyway I set out the the Temple of Chaos where he hides and fight Garland, killing him and taking Sarah back to her parents. And then your off.

He's gonna knock me down (not in this version, but I recall that first time playing through the game)

Basically you travel from town to town solving their problems one by one and getting things so you can progress. The second town have an infestation of pirates so you clear that out, get their ship and sail to Elfheim where the prince have fallen under the dark curse of Athos, the dark elf prince. So for some reason I travel north to a ruined castle and the king there gives me a quest to search for a Crown in Marshe Cave. Do that and return and it turns out the King was Athos the whole time. Defeat him, get a crystal eye that you give to Matoya the witch that gives you a brew that awakens the elf prince. You get a mystic key that opens locked doors so you backtrack through towns, castles and dungeons to get all the stuff you couldn’t get the first time leading you to some nitro that you give to the dwarfs that blows up a channel so you can get out of the inner sea. The first town you encounter tells about the crystal of earth that is sealed in the earth cave to the south so you go there and defeat the vampire that have plauged the lands and you realise that something more sinister is behind that. You, for some reason got some ruby you bring to the giants cave so you can get to the Sage cave where you get a staff to dispel evil and you head back the Cave of the Earth and find some more floors locked behind a stone. Where you encounter Lich, the fiend of the earth. Blasting him and you have awakened the first Elemental Crystal. 

The Lord of Death

This is the first part of the game and is rather straight forward. And it’s usually here I failed to continue the game when I was younger (I finished the game ones before and it was on the GBA, I think it’s because I actually could play it alone without anyone bothering me for the TV or the possibility that I could save anywhere). From here you supposed to get to the Crescent lake, get the canoe and sail to the volcano Mount Gulag (sp?) where the fire crystal is held. But since I know somethings about the game at this point I ditch that story for now and head for the ice caves to the north of the volcano in order to get the levitate stone and then travel to the Ruyka (sp?) desert to the south to get the airship, then travel to the castle of trails to climb to the top and get a rat tail and then see Bahamut, the King of Dragons that gives me an upgrade. Roland turns into a Knight, Niklas turns into Ninja, Erik into a White Wizard while Magus becomes a Black Wizard. What I learned was that you should strive to get the upgrade as fast as possible due to the characters getting better stat upgrades for each level up and I did it, at the level 33. And here I believe the remake makes it self apparent again. I never grinded through the whole game. I went straight for the bosses and objectives and yet I reached level 54 at the end of the game and my characters had always the same experience points. Meaning I never finished a fight with a character down. And I recall grinding for hours to get spells, weapons and armours on the PSOne and I still never felt strong enough. So apparently they gave you more gil and exp this time around and it shows. I finished the game after 11 hours (taking into the account the restarts I did and so on). I checked the last save I did where my characters where level 93 and I put in 25 hours on that save. 

Giver of level ups

And the story continues with you finding each crystal and defeating the corresponding Fiend, Marlith for fire, Kraken for water and Tiamat for Wind. At the top of the floating sky fortress you can observe the world below you and see that the energy from the crystals are amassing at the Temple of Chaos. From the sages near Crescent Lake you learn that the fiends arrived during certain intervals in time, but they all came from 2000 years ago, and only by traveling to that time you can put a stop to this circle of violence. Entering the temple you travel back 2000 years and fight the fiends at each level once again until you reach the bottom floor and stands eye to eye with Garland, once again. As he died at the beginning he was sent back in time and when that happened he sent the four fiends forward in time creating the moment where the warriors of light appears and kill Garland starting the circle anew. Interesting concept. So the fight against Chaos starts. The battle rages on with Magus and Niklas boosting Roland and then Niklas so that they dish out the most damage while Erik heals the party. Magus then turns into nuking Chaos with the highest levelled magic spells. Then suddenly Roland falls and before anyone can act Magus throws a final nuke on Chaos obliterating him from existence and breaking the circle of destruction. Doing so undo the evils that plagues the world and so also the heroes own deeds since it was never needed. I like that story progression. It gives the ending a bitter sweet edge to it.

The Bringer of Pain

All in all it was fun playing through it, I tried going through one of the extra dungeons, but that was a at level 33 and I couldn’t fight of any single boss so I gave up on that idea. Doesn’t bring anything to the story anyway. The graphics of this version is very nice to look at, only wish I had the DS Lite so that the lighting is a bit more crisp, cause it’s hard to see in certain lights. I also believe they have added some cutscenes as well for certain scenes, like blowing up the channal, finding the airship and entering the sunken palace. The music was really good, and I’ve forgotten that certain themes are really pumping like the Cave of the Earth. Maybe it was on the easy side as noted, but if I ever get a TV we can see for ourselves with the PSOne if there is any major differences.