Hey all, I'm Kat and this is my gaming sideblog where I share my experiences while playing games in a sort of journal style, sometimes with screenshots! If you see a strange follow from @talesfantastic or @ladykittenfair that'd be me. XD
Aiming for a lot of headcanons, meta, and maybe even some fanfic! A lot of the stuff I'm into are big franchises: Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, Star Wars, Pokémon, and the Sims. There's also going to be some Farm Sim things (old school Harvest Moon, maybe modded Stardew Valley) and some single games like Dewprism / Threads of Fate.
There will be a lot of spoilers.
That should be obvious but I'm putting it out there. My tagging will be "kat plays" and then the name of the game. If it's something I don't mind being in the tags / rebloggable, I will also tag the game and franchise, as well as adding "(game) spoilers" as a tag.
Most of the games I play are old. Older than some of the young adults who could be reading this. (Yikes!) So I'm not too terribly concerned with spoilers, but I'll do my best to be polite about it.
Under the cut, you can see the games we're starting with:
Sims2:
Eden Grove (original hood)
Mineral Town (a Sims2 version of the Gameboy Advanced game folks)
Old Eos Legacy (a Sims2 version of what might have been during Ardyn and Somnus' day in a no-prophecy AU)
Sims Medieval (assuming I can work it out)
Pokémon:
Crystal (replay) + comparisons to Heart Gold (replay)
Pokémon Stadium 2 (Earl's Academy, replay)
FireRed (replay)
Emerald (replay) + comparisons to Alpha Sapphire (replay)
And eventually:
Ultra Sun
Sword (replay)
Legends: Arceus
+ others
Legend of Zelda:
Ocarina of Time (replay)
And eventually:
Minish Cap (for sure)
Majora's Mask (solid maybe)
Final Fantasy:
FF7 og, possibly also Crisis Core and watching the rest of the Compilation
FF8, been strongly rec'd by a friend, am le curious
FF9, my first FF actually and one I really, really want to do first out of those
And eventually:
I got the pixel remaster set on Steam, in part as a gift from another dear friend; I've started FF1 and been... underwhelmed, but I'm taking notes as a game dev. Eventually I want to go through them all.
Star Wars:
Knights of the Old Republic 1
Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Single Games:
Threads of Fate / Dewprism (replay)
There will be more, but those are the ones I have in progress at the moment, even if it's just in planning / obtaining stages. We'll see how it blossoms over time.
Hey welcome back! I've got the material for several posts, so we'll see where we get to.
LAST TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM... (here)
We were getting ready to go meet Fancy Mel, and Mint and Elena were... less than tactful about asking Rue about his humanity. Interestingly enough, we'll get an answer to that sooner than later, but not just yet. Now, we head to Mel's.
As a reminder Fancy Mel is a powerful magician who freaks Klaus out but precocious darling Elena finds her fascinating. And when we say powerful, I mean she is capable of making large, thorough changes to her very environment.
Mel is a very particular character and I adore her. It's not a far distance to reach her, and you take a thick yellow star shaped platform up into the sky to go to her home. Where she's not.
However, there are these... children, who want to play with you. Interesting games, three of them. One is shown in part below.
Everything is this light pastel, seeming bright an innocent and childlike. I'd believe that more if I hadn't realized the "children" have skulls on their wands.
So maybe this is not what it seems, not that you get an answer right then.
When you've played with the three of them, all there's left to do is come back around to the door, and--
Your first look at Mel is gravity defying (this is a Squaresoft game) strawberry blonde hair, heels with lacy socks, lots of pink, and a bunny beret with a big green bow. All in all that first interaction can be summed up as:
There is a very real chance he was about to reach for his battle ax, and I like to think it's because she's so powerful he feels it even if it's more implied that her appearance is so out there that he's stunned. (That said, the flying yellow cat things? that look like... heads, with no body? just kitty blob heads with wings? I can see that being unnerving too.)
But she invites him inside and never mind the shock, he's on a mission. (kitties pictured below)
And he says yes, of course he does... and she gives him a flat "no."
Rue, was it? Do you have any idea what you're dealing with? The [relic] is not your ordinary magic item. If you play with it...
And with a burst of magic she sends him stumbling back in shock, unhurt but confused. She does ask if he's okay, and he admits she 'scared the life out of him' which is fair, considering he probably hasn't dealt with such casual, out-of-battle magic use. She apologizes and explains she thought she should lighten the mood, he's so serious. Then she continues:
But really, the [relic] is a very dangerous item. Many have pursued it and paid the price, some with their lives. [Relics] abound in this world, but the one you're seeking is Valen's [relic].
Rue has a very interesting, unvoiced response at first --
Yes Rue, why does Valen sound so familiar...? [Redacted.] Mel doesn't realize he recognizes the name and elaborates:
Valen was the most powerful Aeon. He could raise mountains and move stars at will.
(Rue interjects a disbelieving no way!)
Who knows if it's true. Vale perished along with the other Aeons a long time ago. His demise is still a mystery. Some say he had too much power and destroyed himself.
(Rue again, Really...?)
I hope, by now, you realize how dangerous your pursuit is. Valen's [relic] embodies powers beyond our knowledge. Who knows what will happen if the seal is broken. Worst case... it might destroy the world.
There's just one flaw in Mel's reasoning, just one tiny detail she doesn't have.
I don't care, Rue says, looking down, no doubt seeing those last moments with Claire. I have no choice.
And that's the thing Mel doesn't realize: Claire IS Rue's world. And a world without her? Might as well not exist.
I've come this far, he says, spent every day for the last three years looking for the [relic]. I can't stop now...
You can practically hear Mel's loud sigh. Stubborn she calls him. Obstinate might be more accurate. She's realized she can't talk him out of it so, she says she'll help.
You're gonna go after the [relic] with or without my help anyway... So I might as well help.
What she's not saying of course is that she's attempting damage control. Cut down on the collateral. I don't know what she can do about it, but more than most.
Not that she's helping for free. A little 'you scratch my back I scratch yours' here. She mentions the Poppul Purrels (which is what her adorable skull wielding minions are called. Her 'cute helpers'.)
Four of them help her around the Atelier. Three are there now. The problem is clear. She wants Rue to locate the one that was sent into Carona to go shopping and never came back. She's very worried, and promises to have a look at the cube if he finds him.
Task given, Rue goes to leave and she stops him. Says there's something she wants to ask him... but ultimately puts it off til next time.
Rue leaves and we the audience get to watch Mel watch him go.
Rue... poor boy. He still doesn't have a clue.
And that's all kinds of ominous.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
Alright, time to go find that Poppul Purrel so Fancy Mel will give us the cube. She said she sent him shopping, so Carona is the best place to start. Maybe one of the people lingering around the fountain saw something?
Interesting aside, on the way back to town Rue sees something... strange.
Hey so it has been a WHILE since I have been active on Tumblr... anywhere. But I've been gaming a bit more of late and at least have a few posts I can put together on Threads of Fate. I'll be formatting them and tossing them in queue over the next couple days.
Sort of debating doing Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door before moving on to Zelda, largely because there's just the 1 Mario game on the docket and there are several Zelda ones (Minish Cap, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess for sure, maybe Majora's Mask and Windwaker we will see?)
But! Got to finish Rue and do Mint before anything else so we shall see!
I don't really get engagement here (that's fine) but some reblogs, so I hope some people are enjoying. Might do character features in between play posts. We'll see!
Alright, see you next time here on Kat Plays Games!
We're off to see Fancy Mel, our one shot at finding out more about the [relic] and how to use Elroy's cube on the seal in the lake ruins. Elena has said we'll enjoy the time there. Klaus absolutely hates the idea of consulting her and warns Rue will regret going.
Frankly, if it means getting access to a [relic] that could reunite him with Claire? Rue would do anything. And an upcoming conversation is going to prove just how far he'll go.
Before we can leave the city proper, Mint shows up to demand answers she has no real right to. Something-somethting Princess privileges that do not apply here and now. Not that she cares. She's not shy and she's not diplomatic (which is kind of refreshing from an era of delicate princesses.)
But she could use a bit of human decency instead of confronting Rue in the town square and asking tactlessly if he's human.
Casual as could be! We the audience know this is a sore spot. I don't know what she was expecting...? If he isn't human, he's not going to want to tell her and is motivated to say 'I'm human.' If he is human, say just a strange breed of magician, he will tell the truth and say 'I'm human.'
There is no outcome where he would tell Mint, in this moment, that he's not human. Where did she even get this idea?
Ah dear Elena. "I saw him turn INTO a Polly." Honey, that's not the same as "was a pollywog and turned into a human." Shapeshifter is not in her vocabulary, apparently, and Mint's the sort to love gossip. Interestingly, Rue does actually choose a third option and tells her it's none of her business and informs her he has no time for this. I'm sure he's eager to go see Mel for himself.
So he heads into Carona Forest, and this time... things get strange.
It's easy to see why children would be enamored with the soft colors, the giant flowers and mushrooms, and all the stars suspended in the sky.
It's neat.
Until you consider seeing it through Klaus' eyes. Until you realize that this reeks of power, the ability to just... do as you please with the very environment. Realistically, nothing but her own discretion keeps her from impacting more than her domain; Carona no longer has a guardian magician, there is no one to stop her if she decides she wants to play god, bending the rules of reality.
And that? That's terrifying.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
So presumably Mel has changed her very environment to suit her whim, from the strange pink ground to whimsical stars on the ground and suspended in the sky. Also toadstools. Lots of those.
"Manipulates the environment at her own whimsy" "very powerful and knowledgeable magician" "does not age" ... ask me about my "Mel was an Aeon who gave up ultimate power for immortality" headcanon sometime.
But now, it's time to meet her.
*Having some issues with my keyboard as well as my controller, but thought I'd get a few of these queued!
LAST TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
We finally made it to Elroy's Atelier and collected some of his odd tools intended to access the [Relic] they're after. Alas, one of the two were stolen by treasure hunters -- Belle and Duke -- who snatched the tiara before leaving. Unable to catch them, Rue returns to Carona.
We see Elena before we see Klaus, and she mentions having spoken to Mint. She doesn't clarify anything about that, but it in itself feels like a warning to me.
But seeing Klaus again is nice; a grounding, friendly face amidst this mess. He's remarkably relaxed about the tiara, with the optimistic (but not incorrect) chance Rue will have another chance to recover it. In the meantime, he's come across a great discovery: the location of the [relic]! It's in the middle of a nearby lake, presumably buried with the ruins. Klaus admits though no one knew who made them no one would have guessed the Aeons.
Elroy's plan was to use the cube to break the seal on the ruins. The problem is, they have no real idea how to use it for anything more than a decorative paper weight.
Now, all is not lost. There is another option, a resource they might have. Someone they could ask who has the skill set or knowledge on the subject to actually make. One hitch: Klaus really, really, really does not want to.
The one person who might be an answer to their problems... and he doesn't want to "deal with" her? She's a magician -- which neither of them are, and well versed in these things -- named Fancy Mel., and lives in an atelier beyond the forest. He describes her as "just weird, I guess" but that feels like a very odd understatement.
Rue points out that they may not have any choice, and Klaus has no other honest option but to agree, but still he attempts to put Rue off of it.
Let's consider that, "if you go see her, you'll regret it. Trust me."
That's not exactly supportive but Rue doesn't have a choice if he wants answers any time soon. He takes the cube with Klaus' warning ringing in his ears, and when I regained control of him I talked a bit more with Klaus -- only heightening my confusion.
He says,
"I've been to Mel's atelier once. It was a very scary place. I let right after I got there. I didn't even bother meeting Mel."
"I heard Mel is quite popular among kids."
"Fancy Mel is amazing. She doesn't age. She is a very powerful magician."
You can talk to Elena on the way out, and she calls her "the crazy witch" -- and says it's a very fun place. As she's very childish / child coded (if not actually a child, we don't know) it follows the trend of adults being wary and children obliviously enjoying... something?
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
It's time to see this "weird" woman that Klaus finds so off putting, and Elena is being so vague about. What's fun to children and the child hearted, but disconcerting to adults? Something strange is going on...
Health continues to be a struggle, but still thinking about this. Still doing it, when I can. Going to try to play and get shots for a few sections before picking back up. Shout out to my tiny audience. I appreciate you.
So, we made it through the endless green. Mint... not so much, but I know we'll see her again. We've also fought the Skull Beast guardian. Surely now we're at the atelier. It'll be easy! (Said no Square dev ever.)
Lowering into this space is interesting, not just because it's very dramatic but because it's completely unnecessary. However, we're finding most magicians are highly dramatic so this makes perfect sense in that light. You can get a good look at its vastness you're descending through, and then looking up at where we're headed to. Once we've used the key, of course.
Key used, the bottom part of the looming triangle shaped building -- likely what counts specifically as the atelier -- detaches and picks us up to go investigate inside.
There is one path leading up each of the three sides, very steep and without handrails or steps. Going to take a look at each side, we find a healing spot and two main plot items (there are also life coins!)
That... is all we can see, really, so it's time to head back. And as we do, Rue faces something he really should have anticipted: Treasure Hunters.
Bell and Duke are both skilled magicians and probably hail from East Heaven, like Mint. In fact, in Mint's run you find out she and Belle know each other... there's history there, and I wish I knew it. She's interesting. Takes no BS, and is surrounded by BS. Truly, Belle is a sharp talking hard hitting woman and somehow found herself an NPC in someone else's story!
Belle is the undeniable leader of this duo of treasure hunters, as becomes quickly apparent with her ordering Duke around. (Admittedly, he seems quite comfortable with that arrangement.)
I could write a whole saga about this man and his phenomenal magic. You see, Duke has what he calls "Acts", and in these Acts, he acts out things he's read -- absolutely voracious bookworm, this man --
-- but here's the thing: he makes it real.
So when the book he was reading last night, an epic called Shadow Legends, featured the main character using "ninjutsu" that caught his eye -- a move that allowed them to create false images of themselves to confuse an opponent, well.
All of Duke's acts are difficult especially because they each have a different trick to them. In this case, knowing which one to strike and also being able to hit him without being hit -- that battle ax has less range than you think, and against someone at Duke's speed, well... uhm. Used a coin. -_-"
That said, we did eventually lay him out, only to discover it never mattered if Duke had beaten Rue. He'd kept him occupied long enough. For what, you ask?
"Good work, Duke," Belle says.
Rue's startled, "What the--!!?"
"Well now, what do I have here?" Imagine her smirk. "Haha, I gotta hand it to you for beating Duke, but you were way too careless! You can kiss this tiara goodbye."
And with that, Duke and Belle leave, too fast for Rue to follow. Not to say he doesn't try, but he gets held up by the Guardian once more, chasing him up the stairs.
(The last thing we see upon leaving is Mint clawing her way back up onto the platform where Rue was tying his boots.)
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
Well, that's as much a step forward as back. We lost the tiara to the treasure hunters, but we still have the cube. That's got to count for something!
Time to go back to Carona and see Klaus.
Controller issues of late, RIP; I think I have them settled now but I also have some other things on my plate right now, and am slow getting back to this.
But make no mistake, we will get back to this. See you soon, with more Dewprism.
Green. Green as far as the eye can literally see through a maze of diverging paths that I'm still not sure how I managed to navigate through...? Anyway. Managed the halls of green, only to be greeted by more green and a mildly less frustrating maze. Now....? Now we go down one more level. (Bet you there's more green.)
Aaaaaand yes there's more green. Welcome to this weird sloping hall. It's blocked at one end, so going to the other end (noticing an odd and foreboding indentation in the wall just to the side of it) we find everyone's favorite kind, gentle, patient princess (at best, only one of these things are true) And she points out that we're late.
Then attention goes to this giant boulder. At the top of a narrow, sloping hall, with two walls and a dead end and.... Mint. Mint, what are you doing?
To be 100% clear, she hit it. With magic. What happens next is her own fault.
As you can see, I didn't go out of my way to trip her; in her eagerness to outrun me, she took a fall and, well... it's a good thing she's got plot armor as a fellow protagonist, is all. Remember that divot though?
So we survived! Mint did too, but she's out cold and muttering nonsense when Rue checks on her... alas. Rue decides she'll be fine and surely understand he had to move on, which he does, finding a big, beautiful lake. I have a story for you, in three parts.
Rue discovers the lake
Mint, who must have snapped awake and come running, comes up behind him, pretty clearly indicating her plan to jumpkick him into the water.
She tries!
She uh, fails spectacularly, because Rue's boot is untied. (I didn't realize these boots had ties, but ok?)
She just... keeps going. Taking a little swim -- Rue thought he heard her but, not one to suspect that could even be an option, doesn't look for her. And she must have gone pretty deep, because the next puzzle bit has him jumping onto those platform things again -- in order, so jumping back and forth over the water to get from first to last and have it bring us to the next level, which goes past a massive (green) spiral staircase, down down down, and leads to an area with four platforms.
Huh. Kinda looks like a uh... you know. A boss area?
And we're outside an atelier, presumably.
There's a guardian.
And I'm at 38 HP.
....help.
It jumps between platforms trying to land on you and has ranged attacks from fire breathing and the one piece of good news is that, when I died I had some coins of life, and even though it only gave me 25MP, it was more than enough since it revived me to full health.
Look at this menace:
But okay. Rue put an end to him... now it's finally time to go see the atelier.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
So the good news is that we're surely reaching where Elroy's atelier is, and we took care of the Guardian..... the bad news, of course, is that we cannot possibly be the only ones interested in this treasure...
Previously, we were set to go out to the underground ruins to find Grand Magician Elroy's atelier, as the magician Cadomon had intended to before he fell ill. However, we took a detour to meet, fight, and lose to Rod the Blade Star, a fantastic and versatile weapon making swordsman. He's going to come up again, and not just to fight.
Going out to the entry location, Rue walks up to it without a clue that something's about to happen... or, someone. Do take a moment to admire the little dais with it's carved rune work. This holds power, the power to teleport someone to another place. (One does wonder how it differentiates between those there to travel and wild animals / monsters...)
We, as the player and audience, know what's about to happen because Mint's theme is playing. (And it's very her, very mischievous and playful.) And, as we haven't really seen much of each other, she asks if Rue remembers her.
This time, I let him say he knew her. But you can get some funny results messing with her.
Now, she's here to get in on this [relic] business, having apparently realized honey is better than vinegar, as the saying goes. That said, her softer touch is still very bossy, and honestly a little insulting. Not that she knows we're headed to the atelier -- she knows we're after the [relic] and furthermore she's probably much better educated than she acts, as royalty and as a magician
Even with my typical headcanons that a lot of magic is willpower /power, controlling it to get it to do what you want? That's knowledge, practice, and skill, and she has that too. Being clumsy doesn't negate training in other areas; I doubt she was ever meant to see combat, either.
She absolutely skipped her diplomacy lessons though.
So what are you gonna do? Don't tell me you're planning to go in by yourself. It's probably packed with monsters. No offense, but I don't think you'd last a minute in there.
Rue is... utterly unimpressed, frankly. You can imagine his flat tone asking her what she's trying to tell him. Does he know? Maybe. But he's making her ask.
She reasons that with two people it would be so much easier, that if they worked together it would be faster. And you can agree, or not. I did, personally. Not that I think Rue intends on sharing, on letting any one or thing get in the way of his finding and using the [relic] but it's more efficient and does hopefully limit how much sabotage she'll attempt. (Even Rue knows she has intentions, and they're not exactly good ones, but I think he just wants to cut the hassle and go.)
SO. Time to go through the ruins. Music here.
And just, I have to say I really would not want to have to redo this more than once. I have no idea if this maze has rules? I mostly just kept going in the same direction until I heard water running, then turned. It was gloriously uniform green marble halls, shot through with black, and ever last one of them ended in a Y for quite some time. Look at this nonsense:
Lots of green. And then finally, somehow, I made it past the water I was hearing (and went on to more maze, and more water) to eventually wind up at an entry to a lower level.
Guess what's there?
....
....
.... did you guess "more green"? Ding ding ding thaaaaat's right! More green. AND, as a bonus, items to collect!
There's a lot of them actually, six to be precise, most of them hidden around like that little platform there on the right. But there's also one hidden behind a block of ice.
...just go with it.
Anyway, having a monster coin from the Fire Salamanders means we can, ideally, work through the ice.
So I got that. However, there were two more there and I just didn't have to oomph left. If I get a chance to go back (and I might) it won't be until I have more magic.
FUN THING about leveling up in Dewprism: you don't. Instead, you raise your HP by attacking and raise your MP by using magic. That's it. There's a handful of boost items but by far the bulk of your "leveling" type of skill acquisition is done just by playing, and controlled somewhat by the devs in how many fights you can get in to earn points. (It's actually a lot IF you're willing to be super repetitive and delay plot advancement. I just wasn't, today.)
You can compare where I am now to where I was with Rod, though -- 71HP : 60MP just before Rod, and we're now at 87HP : 75MP. It's not a fast climb, but it's doing the job. Most fights aren't so much about power as they are pattern recognition and knowing when to dodge over when to attack. Power just ends it faster, and lets you make more mistakes.
So anyway, once those six were collected we finally make it to their little elevator, and the next passage downward into the depths of the ruins.
Show time.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
A reunion with Mint gets rocky, and we finally close in on Grand Magician Elroy's atelier!
We had a long talk about the Magician Cadomon, whose atelier we just came back from. Cadomon didn't have the knowledge or power to get to the [relic] and was looking to a "Grand Magician" Elroy, who had lived 500 years prior to the present and was working on this same task, to get the [relic].
We have Cadomon's crafted key to Grand Magician Elroy's atelier. With Klaus out of commission for physical trips of any length, we're going solo. Given the monsters, that's probably for the best.
On the way out, Elena comes to try and get us to see the nearby lake, which we have to pass on. I go save because you never know, and then -- on a bare hunch, remembering past gaming -- check the bar. And wouldn't you know it? There's an ad (I neglected to get a shot off, whups?) where a man name Rod wants to fight people. You pay 100G, he pays you 1000G. Sweet deal, though it makes him sound hugely overconfident. (Spoilers: he is not).
So I head out of town and down a grassy slope, looking at an odd, small building, a doused fire pit, a dog, and a... odd red thing sitting in a little alcove. Reminds me a bit of a seaplane...?
That vibrantly redheaded man catches my eye and I go to talk to him. He immediately asks if Rue is there to fight him, to which Rue is surprised (apparently we had very different reactions to the poster.) Upon asking who he is, the man introduces himself as a weaponsmith, a vagrant, and a swordsman.
Rod the Blade Star, and he has his reasons for the name. I forget if you find out in Rue's run or not, but we'll see.
(Yes, yes that really is a bare strip of cloth across his pecs, presumably holding his sleeves on. Solidarity with those that have to cover female presenting nipples I guess, idk. Very Square regardless. He has an intriguing design, in my opinion: BIG dusky lavender trumpet sleeves with thick white cuffs, connected by a strip of cloth maybe two inches wide? Wide enough it won't snap when he's fighting. He also has presumably black leather and bronze metal pauldrons.
The biggest thing about his pants and his boots is you can't see where one ends and the other begins so very well fitted, possibly knee-high boots? Maybe? There's a ton of belts: three across his pelvis/hip area, three over his left thigh, and three below his right knee. As I said, VERY Square. He's also wearing some four point cousin of a tricorn hat, if the edges bent down, away from the central popup part. I'm not sure it's a real hat. >_>
Anyway there are a few more important things to know about Rod the Bladestar. One, he makes his own weapons. Two, he will fight you with those weapons, as many times as you can and when you beat one set, he will advance. He's great for testing yourself before going out to a new level of combat.
Three, he charges you 100G per session. However, I find this reasonable as he pays out 1000G and gives you a 900G profit -- if you're skilled enough. It's not about strength at this point, it's about your HP and your literal skill using Rue's Arc Edge.
Four, he will eventually be plot relevant, so don't avoid him.
Five, and this is saving the best for last, he has a dog named Johnny Wolf.
Rod is incredibly passionate about fighting, and about putting your heart into everything you do. The money, he swears, is just for spice. Honestly, it's probably also what's funding his ability to travel and pay for resources to make weapons, but that's too mundane for him to mention.
(Idk I do actually find him strangely handsome? I'd love to see a glow up in a remaster.)
So here's his first weapon, and full disclosure he beat me SOUNDLY because I was too impatient to wait out his weakpoints. This gets me a lot.
After he beats me, there's no gloating. There is, in fact, some sideways praise:
"It's not that you're weak or anything. I'm just too damn powerful." It sounds egotistical, but at this point he's right. He's out of my league, be it because I don't have the HP (yeah no) or the skill (also no) to beat him. But he urges Rue to try again -- when he gets stronger.
I appreciate the faith that I'll get that much better. I mean, I will, but the rate at which a protagonist gets stronger is unreal.
Fortunately, while not a protagonist, Rod is still a prodigy in his art, always testing himself and growing stronger. There's many more challenges in Rue's future.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
Time to get a good look at the ruins built, presumably, on top of Grand Magician Elroy's atelier. Let's hope Cadomon really was on the right track.
After meeting up with Elena's parents at last, we get to the magician's workshop (atelier) after fighting, being taken down, getting back up, and defeating it, we got to see the atelier and found some goodies. Princess Mint attempted to stop us but wasn't exactly the epitome of grace when she tried.
One bone-jarring fall later and she pulls a feline routine of "I meant to do that" and runs off. Which is... fine? We head back to town.
When we get back to Carona it opens with Mira talking to Ms. Cartha (the innkeeper) about letting us stay a while on her coin, simply because we're helping her husband. ... maybe also because we're keeping him out of trouble, or at least that's the hope.
That could have been Klaus, slain by the guardian in front of the atelier and not getting back up, and she knows is. A more qualified treasure hunting spelunker keeps him off the front line, as it were, and she knows enough to know "away from the action" is where she wants her soft hearted (and soft bodied) husband.
So we've got room and board at Ms. Cartha's inn. EXCELLENT. The room is small, but it's neat to see it.
From there, save. Always save. All the time.
As you can see, there's those silhouettes in the bottom right. One is Rue as we can compare on where the cursor's pointing. The other.... Mint. But that'll be some time and it's important to move on for now.
Now we get into Mira's shop, which is... interesting? Fishy.
Really fishy. Talking to Mira is optional, but she assures us (and by "us" I mean Rue and all of us in the audience) not to worry about her covering the Inn. Not after saving Elena, who by now probably gave more details on her kidnapping. (I still stand by the fact that she's also tremendously relieved that Klaus is out of the ruin-exploring game for now.)
Klaus is at a table opposite a bed, sitting on a stool while he examines their finds, including this --
-- big pink thing we'll come back to shortly.
In the meantime, Klaus has a lot to say, so sit down and join him.
"I finished skimming through the stuff we brought back from the atelier," Klaus says. Rue asks if he found anything out about the [relic]?
"Yes, the magician who lived at that atelier was also looking for the [relic]. It's written right here: 'My endless pursuit of the Aeon [relic] continues.' On the next page, It says: 'The Aeon [relic] is sealed by one of the highest orders of magic. Even my powers are incapable of overcoming it.'"
Rue is startled and dismayed that the [relic] is sealed, but Klaus pointed out that the Aeon who created it probably (rightfully) feared someone would steal it, and so placed a powerful seal to protect it. Which... is probably really difficult to break, given back in the atelier Klaus described the Aeons as godlike in power. And this Aeon is being specifically referred to as powerful even for an Aeon.
That is not enough to dissuade Klaus from trying. He points to more excerpts from the diary,
"You see, the magician wasn't the only one looking for the [relic]," Klaus continues, "Listen to this -- 'I cannot break the seal. Then I shall seek the powers of the past.
"'Long ago, Grand Magician Elroy and his apprentices also sought after the power of the [relic]. I must see his research on the [relic]. I must go to Elroy's atelier in the underground ruins. I have made a key that will grant me access to his atelier. The power to uncover Elroy's secrets is in my hands.
"'But I am too late... I have fallen victim to a deadly disease. I cannot even walk anymore....'"
He couldn't go. He got so close, but a terrible disease withered him away until he died. A horrible fate.
Klaus, however, does see the bright side: they have that key, and he knows where the ruins are! So, let's go, right? They should be able to enter the ruins and find -- and enter -- Elroy's atelier. It's only half a day by foot!
One issue.
Mr "my leg is fine to go up several flights of stairs" and "icing? I don't have time--" can't actually bear weight on that leg. He tries twice, goes down each time. He's probably been there all night working, not elevating, and generally making the situation so much worse for him.
He's so upset he can't go, though, but honestly if it's that dangerous, better Rue go alone, right? Klaus is an academic, but no Indiana Jones. He's going to have to stay. (They -- and by which I mean Rue -- decided not to wait for him to recover and instead wants to do it himself. To be fair, it's not 100% impatience, there's at least 10% of "I'm worried you'll get hurt worse and you're the brains of this operation.")
Hey, everyone plays their own role, to their own strengths.
After the cutscene ends, there's a chance to talk to Klaus and pick up a few more facts:
The magician who's atelier we went to already (in the forest) was Cadomon.
Elroy lived about 500 years ago, and was in control of Carona and it's nearby regions. (later info suggests this was in a governance position, though probably not elected.)
Elroy did a lot of research into mechanical dolls.
All important things to know.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
Well then. I guess it's onward. A goodbye to Elena and we'll take a detour to make a new... friend? friendly rival? of a very, very Square character.
So we found Elena, rescued her from the hoodlums who are now seeming more thuggish, and met her parents: Mira the Shopkeeper and Doctor Klaus, who's investigating the Carona [relic] -- yes, the very one Rue came here hoping to find.
Needless to say, when he requests they work together, Rue jumps at the chance. He's the first one down, and the first one to examine the entry to the atelier.
So. Really long flight of stairs takes us high to what might actually be a floating chunk of earth depending on how well the magician at hand studied his predecessors. Gravity being optional does seem to be a thing as we go... you'll see.
Anyway, with games of this time (notably the PS1 and N64, probably others) buildings are not to scale by any means. Very much "bigger on the inside." /obligatory nod to Dr. Who.
You can see it when you get a look from Rue's POV, and he seems... underwhelmed. One does wonder what he's seen already in those three years of searching...
So he approaches the atelier and triggers it's Guardian. Zero warning ahead of time, and guess who is NOT healed from the path here and absolutely missed the heal spot before coming up here?
The guardian (Nightmare) is not actually a hard fight? It's just that I had a minor fraction of health and it jumped and landed on me a few times because I'm not used to the controls.
I died. T_T
But I came roaring back to battle, and I beat Nightmare, enabling plot to resume. Worth note: Rue apologizes to Nightmare for defeating them...? Hm.
Mira heard something and was alarmed (rightfully), but by now the guardian is taken care of and Rue can shrug it off. (Elena, by the way, had zero doubt Polly could handle anything.... thanks?)
Klaus made it up all those steps on spite and adrenaline; he doesn't even feel the pain, he's so excited.
(He is probably doubling down on compounding the injury, we'll come back to that.)
So it's time to enter the atelier and I got some nice shots coming in behind Klaus. THIS is a magician's workshop, their atelier. Even not knowing who it belongs to, you can admire the massive collection of research materials.
After some looking around, Rue comes back to look at that big red vault that all but has arrows pointing to it as important to the plot. (Magicians are either very subtle, or not at all, and I can't recall an in-between in this game.)
The vault is locked, but Klaus knows the trick of it -- a hidden switch -- and gets it open, revealing some "key items" as one might say in other games. Klaus locates a manuscript (up top) that was written centuries ago, but fortunately it's in his linguistic wheelhouse. This is not his first ancient manuscript he's analyzed, and no doubt not the first in this time period either since the research that would have led to him knowing where this atelier was would have been in the same time frame.
Then Elena starts calling so Rue goes out, having little choice since Klaus is tied up with his analysis anyway. She says his friend's there.
-deep breath, Rue-
Okay moving on, a little run around has Mira saying she thought she saw someone. The instinct is to think it's the Pollywog. And it might have been, but that wasn't all.
Rue goes back in to talk to Klaus, who's finished skimming through the manuscript and found it's the magician's diary.
And it has detailed records of all his research. He was studying the creators of the [relic] -- the Aeons, massively powerful beings, rumored to have the power to change the orbit of the stars, we're talking about. They lived about 1000 years ago, ruling over the world. There's no statement on how many there were, and we only hear about a few, but it stands to reason there were more than a handful.
Despite their godlike powers, Klaus says, they weren't immortal. Time passed, their powers weakened, and they eventually all died. What remains is their master works -- the [relics] -- indicating there are many.
Rue says he's heard some of the [relics] have the power to grant any wish. I think, given the prologue, we know what his one desire is. Klaus doesn't have a clue what he'd wish for, he just wants to find one. It makes them a good pair.
And someone thinks even needing to ask is a stupid question.
Someone we've seen, but never heard.
Ah Mint. Queen of the whole world? Well. It sounds good to say without all those pesky responsibilities. Responsibilities are for other people, and as royalty she'll have people for that.
She demands they hand everything up on threat of beating them "to a bloody pulp" and just taking it. When Rue expresses that he not only has no idea who she is but also has zero intention of letting her steal their finds.... she gets testy. She's Princess Mint. No one says no to her!
She's really ready to do it.
And then she falls off the balcony and faceplants on the floor to the silent yet audible "..." from both Klaus and Rue. Rue pokes at her and eventually she hops up and goes the cat route of pretending it was on purpose.
Yeah, she'll spare them. Yeah, they should be sooooo grateful.
Yeah she's getting out of there.
Interestingly, she reminds Klaus of someone... but for now, they're done here and Klaus is SO overdue to ice his ankle.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
Back to Carona to study our findings with Dr. Klaus!
Going into Carona Forest, we learned some important things about Rue; one, he's a shapeshifter -- something new NPC Elena harps on -- and two, upon reflection that Elena must think he's a monster...he's not so sure he's not.
So, following Elena's bright and sunny lead, we locate her father, Dr. Klaus, who's the one investigating the [relic] and his indulgent wife Mira, who's most likely the actual shopkeeper back by the inn.
Klaus is suitably shamed for getting lost in his research and not thinking of his daughter's feelings. This has a distinct air of "I'm so sorry for doing this, it will happen again" and the ladies in his life seem... if not okay with it, than grudgingly tolerant.
Then she mentions being escorted by Rue the Pollywog and I feel their response is entirely warranted.
She's so insistent, and frankly I feel bad for Rue. Like, I'm glad he's feeling something other than grief and deep, deep fixation on his goal but did it have to be that?
Klaus introduces himself, his wife Mira, and casually admits he twisted his ankle -- just a bit -- in-process of looking for the ruins. Interestingly there's the remains of a fire pit there, so one must wonder if they'd spent the night on that plateau? Later, there will be a reveal as to how they were kept safe, but in the meantime just know that Mira wasn't always a shop keep.
There's a place where they ask why Rue is into the [relic] and to guess from the way things take a brief blackout fast-forward, one can assume he told them some of what happened three years ago, particularly given their sympathy and dismay.
So when Klaus suggests they work together on finding the [relic], Rue's happy to. Klaus, as per what one learns is usual, doesn't hesitate to go show him where he twisted his ankle. While, you know. Walking on his ankle. >_> And Mira's just watching. I imagine they have some sort of "I have to try" "then try, but I'm going to let you fall on your face before I save you" "no you won't" "....no, I won't" thing going on.
Anyway, it's super steep down that way, but it's the shortest way to where they need to go and Rue is too eager not to do it.
Besides, he has monster coins and is more than ready to transform as needed, a benefit Klaus just doesn't have and can't just "learn". Not that they discussed that in depth, I don't think.
He makes it down fine. There's another interesting environmental setup here.
A gargoyle perched on a platform, and a peculiar golden colored half wall display. It looks akin to two griffons, facing inward towards a circle with something like a woman's head (with hair) and blue, magenta, and green stones (one apiece) on the edges of the circle at approximately equal distance. It looks like there might be writing within the circle, and that makes sense because Rue reads "gargoyle face" and interprets it as face the gargoyle.
Two gargoyles promptly manifest and when Rue fights them -- collecting a gargoyle monster coin -- he is then able to transform into a gargoyle and perch opposite the other one. This unlocks a massive, translucent staircase, maybe even made of energy.
I cannot stress enough, it is a very, very long staircase. But nothing will stop Rue.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
Next, it's time to see what Klaus was coming all this way for: a magician's atelier, or workshop, belonging to a magician long since dead who had also studied the [relic].
it's been three years since that fateful day out in the snow, and Rue's journey to find some way to bring Claire back has brought him to the port town of Carona. He finds it strangely familiar, but is too intent on chasing down that magician's treasure -- the [relic] -- that could be hidden in the nearby forest, to care why.
As a bonus, a girl he's been asked to rescue comes with parents who have been studying these particular ruins... assuming he can find them.
Off to Carona Forest! Worth mention, this is where the game kicks off with combat, and aside from giving your basic button commands it also goes into a very particular ability of Rue's.
Rue is a shapeshifter. What, if anything, else he happens to be is not disclosed at this time. Rue can transform For Reasons, and in order to transform he has to fight something. Not unlike a Ditto, to reference our earlier Pokemon runs, but that when he defeats something it drops a "monster coin" and, with the ability to pull information from a certain number of them at a time, he can transform into them. Pretty handy, as you see quickly: pollywogs, who happen to levitate, are ideal for passing overtop treacherous terrain. It also looks really cool when he's swapping back and forth.
To absolutely zero surprise, as he continues, he comes upon the hoodlums again -- and their hostage, Elena, who they're threatening to "cut up" if she doesn't give them money.
Now, I don't know how old Elena is but she reads young. Young, and either a troll or a little slow on the uptake. Viewers decide. XD
I will pause to appreciate the ruinish architecture. Some civilization was here before modern Coronans, though all meaning to this display has been lost and is never elaborated on.
You can get a good view when Rue firsts approaches the hoodlums, and then again after he's scared them off.
As a pollywog. (This will be HIGHLY relevant soon.)
No idea what's up with the head there, or the dais/platform it's on but I like to imagine it's one of the Aeon's fault. (This will be funnier next post when you know wth an Aeon is, I'm sure.)
Remember me saying Elena reads young? So one of my few gripes about Dewprism is they all have pretty much the same "voice" -- same word choices regardless of who it is and their age / position, all kind of casual and humorous. And I mean, I love when games don't take themselves too seriously, but yeah. That's... actually that's the only gripe I can think of right now!
Anyway. Elena reads young, and either as dense, mischievous, or an outright troll. Here's a prime example:
You can turn into a person, too!? This is a running gag, and I think there's a couple reasons for it, one of which we'll touch on shortly and the other basically what the last paragraph says.
Rue spends a while trying to convince her he's a human shapeshifter but she won't be dissuaded. She's distracted briefly by the reminder of her missing parents, but when Rue offers to come with, she leads with a call of "Let's go, Polly! Follow me!"
And Rue is kinda broody about that. That she thinks he's a monster.
And he's not so sure he's not.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
It's time to meet Elena's parents, and learn move about the [relic].
Previously, we did a little leadup to the game, and chose to play Rue for this first playthrough character (Mint will be done afterwards.) We took a look at what origin story we're given, with the Dark Intruder and Claire's apparent death at his hand.
Three years have passed, and Rue is on the move chasing a [relic]. We find out more about [relics] later, but for now it's enough to know he's firmly convinced that this magical thing will be able to save Claire, bringing her back to life.
Three years, he's been chasing leads and information about [relics] -- you could write a story about this whole chase! -- but he's still as determined as ever. His word choice is interesting though. When he says "don't worry Claire" it almost sounds like the situation could be different. I remember younger!Me playing this for the first time and questioning that a bit.
Now, you'll notice a redhead up by the left curve of his hat in the first two pictures. Well, a neon-pinky/orange but still -- you remember her? That's the other potential protag you can play, Mint, who is a sidekick with ambitions to be a protagonist in Rue's story. We'll be seeing her again sooner than later.
And speaking of "seeing again sooner than later", meet the hoodlums, Smokey and Blood. These two, either brothers in blood or brothers in bond, are also after the [relic] though they don't call it that. They do give us more of an idea what rumors Rue's chasing.
A legendary treasure that some magician made? This is what a [relic] can be referred to as, but it still doesn't tell us what it is. Unfortunately, before they can discuss it further some "red thing" crashes into the ship at high speed. Luckily, Rue manages to stay aboard, and somehow or another the ship limps back to the port where he gets off and meets the dock master, Davis, but not before saying something interesting:
He says "This place... It looks so familiar... Have I been here before...?"
I find the use of ellipses (...) to be an interesting shorthand not only for speech pausing between phrases, but also -- in an era without voice acting -- managing to convey the uncertainty of his tone. He's unsettled by the level of deja vu going on here, and it only gets more intense.
He briefly talks to the dock master, Davis, who remarks to the effect that it's unusual to see "tourists" coming in to the town instead of the usual merchants. Rue, and Smokey and Blood, are all noted as being newcomers (no mention of Mint) and Davis also picks up that the brothers might be bad news. However, upon overhearing that the pair plan to go check out the "ruins" in the forest with the aim of uncovering the [relic] Rue's after, he clearly decides that any threat they represent is nowhere near enough to deter him.
Rue, we will find out, is going to find that [relic] and no one and nothing is allowed to interfere. Single minded and desperate, Rue doesn't care about collateral at this point. He just wants Claire back.
Rue enters Carona proper, a sleepy little city with not much going on, some scattered merchants, a couple shops, a bar, a humble inn, and a posh hotel that suggests they get some big money coming in now and again. It's a peaceful place, at the moment, but in the process of talking to literally everyone (as one ought, with a RPG) he runs into the Innkeeper, busy fretting outside her inn.
So, one of the shopkeepers next to the inn has gone missing for 5 days, along with their spouse, worrying their daughter so much that she goes to find them. But get this: they're in the forest. They're studying the ruins. There might well be a bonus in saving their daughter from the monsters the Innkeeper mentions. It's also the right thing to do, since he has the skills and strength, but it helps that it overlaps with the subject Rue is laser focused on.
NEXT TIME ON KAT PLAYS DEWPRISM...
We're going to Carona Forest, in hopes of finding Elena and hopefully finding out about these ruins... and, more likely than not, encountering Smokey and Blood on the way.
