Could it be...? Could it possibly be?
YES! Yes, it's an update. Albeit a very late one.
YES! Yes, it's an update. Albeit a very late one.
Now let's see...next up was the accursed Temple of Darkness... We booked it back to Tethe'alla (as I and my characters bid our homeland a tearful farewell) and I spent a fair amount of time (an hour) searching for the temple and then another fifteen minutes looking for the entrance.
Everybody tell my sister thank-you, she spotted the cave entrance before I could.
We got in, it was pitch black, I distinctly remember Lloyd getting Zelos in trouble by clever use of words...-snickers- He told Sheena Zelos was the one with his hand on her rear. He probably was, which makes it doubly funny. Anyway, Raine mentioned that it was probably no good trying to continue in a dungeon where we couldn't see a foot in front of our noses...so Sheena suggested we head on back to Meltokio and visit the Elemental Research Academy for some Blue Candles.
Best dang invention ever. Besides Rheairds of course.
Most of the scientists there were happy to see her and asked how her Summoings were going and all that jazz. Key word: most. One blond in the back stepped forward and blamed her (us) for the imprisonment of a fellow researcher. Lloyd blanched, who has been taken and for what? Well, the crime was harboring criminals (again, us), and the offender? Yeah, that'd be Kate.
Well we couldn't very well just leave her to be killed, not when she'd helped us escape back then. Regal informed us that the prison could be reached through the coliseum since prisoners were sometimes taken out to fight for the enjoyment of rich and snobby spectators.
Where are we, Rome? Meltokio: more "behind the times" than they realize.
Okay...so we ran off towards the coliseum (which, thankfully, I did not get lost doing) and haggled with the clerk over entering the competition. My favorite walkthrough tipped me off that I could skip the entrance fee if I chose Zelos to fight with (and since he's a swordsman, I could have easily done this). But since I was really only familiar with Lloyd, I picked him instead and paid out the nose to get in there. Thus began a battle against some luverly undead monsters (ALONE) and all items barred from me.
That really cheesed me off, why the heck wasn't I allowed to use my items?! My lemon gels...they need me.
Well, whatever. My awesome sword skills (sharpened through well over a hundred hours of gameplay) beat down the Undertakers and various zombies and we were allowed to investigate the prison entrance (miraculously unguarded) I had Lloyd sneak in and start investigating cages. We stumbled upon Kate quickly and told her HEY!, we're here to rescue you!
But no, she has issues and wanted to remain in prison, thinking her death would be sufficient penance for all the sins she'd commited at the behest of the Pope. Sins she was so very sorry for. Can we say REGAL? Lloyd gave her a fine tongue-lashing, told her that if she died...there wouldn't be any chance to atone for what she did. What does dying solve? NOTHING. She should keep on living and try and help people,try and reverse what happened.
Of course she agreed, because Lloyd's good heart and logic are undeniable, and so we smuggled her out. How, I'm not sure. She requested that we take her to the ruined village of Ozette and so we did.
There we learned a most horrifying fact, but one that cleared the reasoning for her "standing up" for the Pope all the time. Surprise! He's her dad! Yeah, didn't see that one coming.
Well, okay. I did, because I already knew the story like the back of my hand. But any NORMAL first-time player wouldn't have seen it. Genis wondered (angrily) why she stood up and cared for a man who didn't care two spits about her and condemned her very race just for being what they were!
"Please..." she whispered. "He's still my father..."
Well there wasn't much we could say to that. Kate turned slowly, lost in her own little world, and meandered her way towards Presea's house. Raine said we ought to leave her alone and, worried though we were about her well-being (the healer assured us that Kate could take care of herself), we pulled our Rheairds out again and lit out for Meltokio.
The half-elves at the laboratory were very relieved to hear of Kate's escape (the blond man even forgave us) and happily supplied us with a Blue Candle so we could explore the Temple of Darkness at our leisure.
Whoopie.
Sheena thanked them all on our behalf and we flew again towards the temple, how excited I was to be there! It was black again, but we activated our nifty piece of wax and the whole place lit up enough for us to easily see our way around. (i was very gateful for that, I feared it would be like dungeons in Pokemon and Zelda where you only have a small circle of light to guide your way around. I would have gone MAD.)
The temple...was not easy. At all. My friend Franky (yes, a user here) told me that if I hated the Seal of Fire (and I did, that was quite awful for a newb like me) then I was going to positively loathe the Temple of Darkness.
And she was right. I explored the place from top to bottom, always first things first, and began trying out blocks (which naturally didn't work.) Then I found a cleverly hidden opening and Lloyd crawled through alone to activate the Sorcerer's Ring pedestal. Our beloved accessory started spewing out black smoke and I ran aaaaall around to try it out. There was much joy when I found out I could douse the lit crystals, repeatedly. And then I tried it on the blocks, huzzah! I had a gay ol' time pulling blocks out and watching mini cutscenes where their twins were pushed or pulled accordingly.
So much fun. 'Course then I discovered the fragments and, as cute as they are, they are a righteous PAIN IN THE NECK to herd. Not to mention they wouldn't leave me alone! My walkthrough (all hail Gamespot!) told me it'd be a good idea to use Lloyd's "personal" Ex skill 2. So I dug a gem from my wingpack and suddenly Lloyd could run! And I mean really really run! I left the persistent little wisp in the dust and ran off to find more. I found plenty, but getting to them was another matter.
-scratches head- Good lord...that place took forever. Now, what all did I do to solve the puzzle...?
I remember getting fed up with the walkthrough because I was too stupid to find the horizontal it was saying I should pull out to reach another fragment. I wandered around some more, tried going it on my own, got STUCK (no seriously, I couldn't move anywhere. The blocks weren't budging), and had to turn the Wii off.
-debates cutting it off here- Nah..I'll keep going.
When I came back the next night, I tried again to use the walkthrough. My stupidity held strong so I gave up and flew off to Sylvarant for a break.
i confess, I'm ridiculously fond of the declining world. It's small, it's warm, it's familiar... I flew about with my party, revisiting old towns and finding out where the Linkite tree was hiding... Lo and behold, a cutscene triggered! The whole group showed up (Sheena, Zelos, Regal, Presea, Raine, Genis, Colette, Lloyd...the whole shabang) and Raine-
OH SHIZNIT, I FORGOT SOMETHING. At some point (I can't remember when) I'd gone back to visit Altessa on a whim. i ran into Tabatha first and started talking with her, luck to me. She was cooking something tasty and asked if we'd like the recipe. Heck yes, I love new recipes! Ta-da, we learned how to make curry! Before I could finish celebrating, she gave us something else that Altessa requested we have. It was an extra and he figured we could use it. IT WAS...an exsphere shard!
I was REALLY shocked to see that, having thought the only way you could get one was by visiting Dirk. Apparently I was wrong. biggrin We happily accepted the shard and went on about our business (me being very excited to try out our new and spicy food.).
-cough- I don't know what I did next, but the point is I had an exsphere shard and I knew darn well what to do with it. BACK TO THE LINKITE TREE. *fast forward*
Raine used the shard to amplify her healing abilities and Sheena called on the giant talking hamster of doom and-HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO WRITE ABOUT THE TEMPLE OF EARTH?!
-beats head against ground- Ugh...I'll check and then cover that if I haven't done it already. Man I fail at this...
ANYWAY (lots of caps today...lots of caps), Sheena summoned Gnome and had him make the earth healthy again (it got a whole lot prettier, I tell you what). Raine wielded her shard-and-staff combo and used Resurrection to call forth the tree's will to live. The shriveled little thing blossomed once again with tiny green leaves along it's branches and purple nuts resembling poorly-name vegetables dangling from random points among the leafy buds.
No seriously, those nature-made flutes look like eggplants with holes. It's bizarre.
So, Genis pointed out that we would need to exercise our collective crafting skills and make an instrument of one of the nuts to call upon Aska: the Summon Spirit of Light. The screen blanked out for a bit and before you know it, we had a really funky lookin' instrument. Genis played us a lovely tune and out came Aska! He told us (politely) that unless Luna was there, nothin' doin' on the pact! The two-headed spirit flew off to the Tower of Mana and we followed in excitment.
Of course ZELOS, stinking redhead that he is, said we should "train up before we go!" Oh please Zelos, I made sure we were strong enough to take on anything. But noooo, the game refused to let us make a pact and we (more like I went sulkily back to Tethe'alla to continue tackling the temple.
-dusts hands off- That seems an appropriate place to leave it off. Mark my words, I will finish this.
Community Member