SaGa Franchise

[Rez09]

Ooooooh, tips, much appreciated; the game's been pretty fun so far, and is a completely different feeling beast from both RS1 and 3, so the new information is quite welcome. The encounter part in particular is quite interesting, as I avoid encounters in RS1, 3, and Frontier for most of the entire game, making this the first in quite some time for me where they are actively beneficial.

On that front, Empress Shirley's reign has also proven beneficial for all, as I commissioned the planting of an orchard and diverted some monies over to the blacksmiths for the development of super sweet helmets. Following that I checked to see if any new formations were available, but none were, and went about assembling my new team: 1 heavy infantry on point, 1 air mage in the back, and 1 monk and light infantry on either side. I don't know damage formulas for this game, particularly regarding fist damage, so I assumed RS3 rules weren't in play and loaded everyone down in heavy armor except for my mage, who I gave double necklaces. Following that I took everyone to the magic research center and, after seeing I unlocked no new spells last generation, decided to focus everyone down on two schools this time instead of spreading, giving everyone fire and light magic. I also passed the Elder bow I picked up to my mage and the Splash sword to my light infantryman, and with general preparations complete my team traveled south to where we helped the bison herders earlier.

Unfortunately, they were all gone when we arrived, but I did remember the leader mentioning their seasonal migration and noticed another path to the south on the map, which I took in the hopes of getting more quests from them. This path is another one like the plateau before where you have to actually cross it to change map areas, so I found myself skating along a frozen lake in a very simple puzzle before reaching the tribe again in their second settlement. Sadly, talking to people here didn't reveal any new quests, per se, but the leader did mention a nearby location the tribe didn't screw around with, so of course that was to be my next destination.

Returning to the map, I found the area marked with a red X, which was a first and I assume meant I wasn't supposed to go there, not that that stopped me. Have to say though, how much this place looked like the Ice Palace from RS1 almost did, because that dungeon is absolutely obnoxious and I had no intention of putting myself through a place like that this early in the game. Fortunately, I quickly discovered this was the shortest dungeon yet, being 1 main screen and five sub screens with chests in them. Two of the chests were traps that got me mugged by skelebros, but the other two contained phat lootz, and the last room contained a simple switch puzzle, two more chests, and one unmistakable staple of the series strutting in the back. I picked up the Grim Reaper bow from the first chest and gave it to my mage, then saved and rammed my face into the Giant in the offhand chance it wouldn't be as powerful in this game as it is in the rest of the series.

Spoiler: it is.

With my characters hovering around 200 hp the giant was a guaranteed OHKO on anyone in my party it decided to hit, it attacked twice per turn, and it was impervious to my instagib attacks and paralysis. I clearly was not winning this fight. However, I did notice this enemy had an incredibly high spark value, so I decided to grind-and-run against it for a bit and walked away with the Reaper bow's AoE death attack, Marionette for Shirley, an AoE slash for my heavy infantry, corkscrew for my monk, and fillet for my light infantry, acquisitions I considered generally worth the lp price I paid. I also discovered that the giant was NOT immune to the stun status from my epee, so I formulated a plan to remove everyone's armor and give them epees with feint to see if that would work. Of course, to do this I would have to leave and travel back to Avalon, which I decided to do since it would be a good time to check up on things there.

Returning home I immediately checked to see if I had unlocked any new spells, which I had not, nor did I receive a status update on the orchard when I sat on the throne -- seems planting was going to take longer than I expected. Helmet was done though, so I got that at least. It was promptly deposited into my armory while collecting the epees. After loading everyone up with feint and more balms, I decided to hit the royal bedroom for some much needed WP/JP restoration before heading out.

And failed to fall asleep. :0

It turns out, sleeping in my bed allowed me to walk around and after exploring the town for a bit I met up with one of the thieves people were talking about, who had a secret room in my own castle! After helping her out I got a quest from the guild proper, which led to the brutal murder of a poor squidman, and now I have the help Wolf mentioned for the canal quest once I decide to finally do it, which would be right about . . .

not now. Instead I returned to the ice dungeon to attempt to clear out the giant there, which, after a few attempts and removing everyone's armor, actually did work! Turns out all I needed to do was run at him naked with my weapons flailing. My reward for this arguably unfair win was a pretty sweet axe, though without a dedicated axe user it doesn't have much of a home in my party at the moment -- it'll find a home for sure later.

Wrapping up that dungeon I returned to the village to tell the elder, but it would seem they have migrated again, so I went back to their first location and met them there, only to learn that one of their kids and baby yak wandered off. Interestingly, they didn't ask me for help this time, but I think they know by now that Empress Shirley is on the job, so things are covered.

The new location on the map was actually stupid annoying, with a lot of false routes, and I had to follow the kid's voice to find where he was, one time even wandering around lost until I found a false wall I had to walk through. It wasn't Crowley bad, but even still, y u do this, Japan? The worst was yet to come though, because once I found him he somehow managed to be behind one of the game's main bosses, and I wasn't interested in picking that fight just yet, so I reloaded my save to exit the cave -- I'll be back for him later when I am ready to progress to the next generation.

Without any other clear destinations besides the canal I set to talking to people again and someone in the starving village opened a new location for me to explore, so I went there next. The town was nice enough and seemed problem free, so I suspect a volcano is going to erupt on them later, but until that point all I really learned from the town was about another town that used to have mermaids, so off I sailed to there.

Much like the previous town, this location was relatively uneventful, but I did find a dancer in the bar at night who won't talk to me and I can't follow, because I appear to open doors so hard it wakes up the sun. Again, I think I'll come back here after I finish exploring. Speaking with more of the town's folk revealed the location of a nearby witch who sells love potions, and since poor Shirley seems lacking in her love life I decided to adventure that direction, finding yet another short dungeon and meeting said witch, who took all my monies in exchange for THE most garbage LP potion. She made up for it by telling my about the desert though, so that was fine, and off I went to the land of sun in my metal suits.

Fortunately, this desert is far, FAR less annoying than RS1's, because while the sandstream gimmick is the same you can at least see them here, so you aren't being wildly tossed around out of nowhere while you are trying to navigate the place. I didn't spend much time here, as I generally dislike deserts in this series, but knowing RPGs in general something cool is hidden here, and though I immediately left to explore the town I found on its south-eastern end, I'm sure I'll be back here at some point.

Said town is at the base of some monster filled towers which I was going to explore, but some of the town's folk told me one of the Heroes is doing something in there, so much like the guy with the kid I'll worry about this more after I'm done exploring. Other people I talked to told me about mirages in the desert and an oasis out there the men in the village had gone to find because it would, in some unclear way, help them with the boss in the tower, so the call to the desert was much closer than I expected and the game clearly wants me to head that way. Shirley bravely took a boat to Japan instead.

Turns out Japan was much less interesting than I expected and most of the houses were empty, but I did manage to find two men talking about the strangest locations they had seen, one telling me about the desert I had just come from and the other mentioning a jungle to the north, which became my next destination.

The jungle here is, fortunately, NOTHING like the one in RS3 and can be navigated normally, and through my exploration I stumbled upon . . . another monster filled tower with a town at the base, just like in the desert. More of the Heroes' handiwork, I assume. Talking to the people revealed that something was definitely up with the town, because they were all talking about their queen and how all the women in the town left due to jealousy. They also mentioned something about a guardian and that their queen had entered the tower, so I went in after her, bopping mobs up and down the tower along the way and actually winning an upgraded epee for the Empress. Unfortunately, while I did find the Queen at the bottom of the tower, she was being guarded by a large plant boss, which, after saving-and-fishing with a bit I learned the following about: it is of poor temperment, kills me dead, has more than 1500 health, and is immune/highly resistant to stun, paralysis, instant death, and/or general shenanigans. As a general rule in the series axes take care of plants like this quite well, but as I didn't train up anyone to use that axe I found earlier I sadly had to leave her in its thorny plant clutches for now -- hopefully she and it won't be magically petrified by the time I come back. On the plus side, someone knocked a hole in the wall nearby, so I was able to walk out of the dungeon without backtracking, which was pleasing, and it brought me to the street outside.

Without much else to do in that town, I went back to explore the jungle some more and found a path to the east that led me to a woman being attacked by some wild dogs, who, of course, I saved. She then thanked me and led me to her village, which was filled with Amazons! And not only that, but the women from that town with the tower too! :0 Talking to people it turns out the queen is, in fact, one of the Heroes, and a master of charms to boot, so it is probably good that I didn't succeed in freeing her with my mostly male party. I also, from speaking with the town leader, appear to have unlocked the Amazon as a recruitable class now, which is awesome since she says they are good with bows and bows are a pretty top tier weapon class in RS3. I also told her I'd help get rid of the lady in the tower, cause Empress Shirley is awesome that way. :3

Annnnnd that . . . is where I am at currently.