FRUA: Neverwinter Nights - 4: Getting Stoned

Having sent off Alianna and Milkbottom, is was up to the party to find new recruits to fill their ranks, so they made their way to Neverwinter Square, the bustling center of activity in the city. Augustar, the wizard, felt it would be wise to add some magical firepower to the group. Scanning the crowd, he noticed a lot of would be heroes and ne'er do wells milling about, but no one struck him as talented in the arts of wizardry. All except one that is, a young woman with a black robe and inky-black hair. She sat near a fountain, studying a large tome. Augustar approached, she looked up, "I judge by your study of cantrips that you are new to the art, perhaps I can show you a few things," he said. "I am, but that does not mean I need your help, sir," was her response. Augustar quickly replied, "I meant none-such thing, only that you might enjoy a companion to study with. I travel with a group of adventurers to hone my skills, and we are recruiting new members."

A grove of ancient trees in Neverwinter Square, most older than the city itself. (Some imagination required.)

After talking a bit more, and some demonstration of Augustar's mastery of illusory cantrips, the woman admitted that she was hoping to sign on with an adventuring company. She introduced herself as Autumn. When the pair returned to the group, they saw a heavily armored yet swift dwarf demonstrating his fencing skills, impressing the other party members, who applauded as he finished with a flourish of his long sword. "This is Dirk Flamestrike," Kylie introduced him,"He is quite the warrior as you can see, and also has some skill as a... scout you say?" Dirk answered,"Yes, a scout. I was trained well by my clansmen in survival and stealth." Augustar then introduced Autumn, all members nodded approvingly, and the new companions headed out for adventure.

The new companions in battle with a cloud giant. My wizards are crack shots when it comes to helpless foes. Bam! In your face giant!

I had decided to go with a single-class thief for two reasons this play through: so I didn't have to split up the experience between two classes, and also to use a halfling for the first time. However, my switch back to my usual F/Th dwarf has proven immediately to be an upgrade. He not only has higher strength, but I found he can backstab with heavy armor and a shield! Backstabbing in armor is one of those rules that has been inconsistently implemented in the gold box games, but I prefer this way, I think these games are difficult enough. I'm a little worried about only having one cleric now, as if my cleric is debilitated by stone, poison or the like, it now means a guaranteed trip to a temple. My triple class C/F/M-U was just advancing way to slow to keep around, though.

Since my last post, I've managed to play quite a bit, and must admit I'm feeling a lot better about the game, as I've found a good "groove". I was having a rough time in Windy Cliffs, but after I started to fully explore the map I found I could defeat more and more encounters, and started finding decent treasure caches which helped a lot with funds and XP. As most people reading are probably familiar with, the AD&D game is heavily weighted toward finding treasure to get the XP needed to advance your characters. Advancement had so far been very slow in NWN, but like I said, started to pick up as I explored the many secret doors of Windy Cliffs.

I was so excited about finding my first gem, finally, that I screen capped it!

Even though the areas didn't make too much sense, it was rewarding to uncover them. For example, there were a number of secret doors that had trees on one side and a door on the other. I guess you have to imagine they are doors that are concealed by undergrowth on the tree side? To top off my exploration, I actually won some of the battles! I looked doomed when I explored an area in the SW again at night, running into a troll, 2 ogres, and a... purple worm! However, I lucked out with stinking clouds, and was able to win. Unfortunately Ahriman my paladin was poisoned, this time by the purple worm's stinger. I hate to have to depend on making strong creatures "helpless" with stinking clouds to defeat them, but this has been an unfortunate staple of the Gold Box games. The battles are, thankfully, still rewarding though.

Luck is on our side! (Although Ahriman, the poisoned body, might disagree.)

Despite my earlier complaints, by going into the battle with a full complement of spells, I was able to defeat the minotaurs and snakes relatively handily. The minotaurs each carried a magical battle axe +1, which helped my funds out very much. I was worried I might be getting cocky as I decided to take on the greenhag and her owlbears again, but handily defeated them as well! I was starting to get the hang of this. Following the defeat of the greenhag (who was resistant to the stinking clouds, she went down thanks to backtabs) I ran into this...

Oh cool, carrion crawlers are always a good fight, just have to hope I don't get paralyzed.

Only to lead to a battle that looked like this...

Oh shit... Sure the crawler is in front, but it was bit of a misnomer having that be the pre-combat pic, right? Obviously three basilisks is about ten times the threat.

Which, not surprisingly, led to this...

Three party members being stoned. I took this pick to show that you can stand in the spaces of the statues, I wasn't sure about that.

I tried to hoof it back to Neverwinter even with three of my members turned to stone. (I guess we rigged a cart or something to haul them?) However, two encounters involving an umber hulk and a cloud giant took care of that. So, I reloaded, got mirrors, and the basilisks went down easily now that I was reflecting their gazes. I learned a valuable lesson; to pick up mirrors as soon as possible. Even though mirrors are usually available at the start of every GB game, I usually wait until I need them until I buy them. I now realize the error of this, as I would have saved myself a half-hour or more if I just got those mirrors ahead of time.

The party gathered around their table at the Inn at Windy Cliffs as the sun rose, it's rays peeking though the glass. They studied a parchment laid out on table, marked as "Windy Cliffs." "Well," Kylie said, "We've pretty much covered this ground, so where to next?" Will the party continue on to Luskan, the rumoured source of Windy Cliff's troubles, or set out elsewhere? To find out, return soon... to This Bard's Tales!

Play Time to Post: 6h 45m

Total Play Time: 21h 10m   

Final Fantasy X-2 - 6: Fin

Looking at my notes, the last time I played FFX-2 was back on September 4th, so once again I'm wrapping up while the game is a bit in my past. One important thing I don't think I've noted yet is that the game is organized by "episodes". This term only comes up during the last chapter, 5, when you get an "episode complete" message. This is different than the "mission complete" messages received throughout the game. Basically each location you can visit in the game has a storyline that progress chapter by chapter, if you complete them all, you get the "episode complete" message in chapter 5.

In chapter 5, the Gullwings help complete Tobli's show with a special appearance!

Lulu and Wakka's child is born.

Also, this happens, mega hotspots!

I can't remember if it's a chapter 5 only event, but the Spherebreak tournament is worth mentioning here either way. Spherebreak is a new game introduced in FFX-2, in the tradition of past games, such as Triple Triad and Blitzball. It's fundamentally a math game, without too many bells and whistles, so entertainment mileage will most certainly vary. Thankfully, I was able to get myself to play enough to win the tournament, as it nets the Lady Luck dressphere. This dressphere has dice abilities, rolling dice for damage, which I find simple and effective. Occasionally you get a stinker roll, but generally speaking the dice do a high amount of damage. I didn't unlock all the abilities, but a notable one is Double XP, which really makes the character zoom up in levels.

Yuna must play, of all people, boy-wonder Shinra in the finals. Humorously, if Shinra wins, he keeps the dressphere for himself rather than doing the obvious thing and giving it to the girls. He says he needs it for "research"... oh Shinra, you dirty boy!

Shinra basks in the glory of his win.

Yuna receiving the prize. Now that's better!

Chapter 5 also opens up the path to the final boss. The Gullwings have discovered that the fayths have disappeared, and in their place are now deep, dark, holes. Yuna may pick anyone of these holes as a path. There are slight, but not big differences between the paths, as far as I could tell. I think the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth is the easiest and shortest, which makes sense as it is optional and somewhat tough to open up. However, I believe any path still involves battles with the three remaining Aeons: Shiva, The Magus Sisters, and Anima.

Down the rabbit hole... er... fayth hole. Why does that sound perverted?

At the end of the hole, the Gullwings find the Leblanc Syndicate waiting patiently on the Farplane.

Once the Gulls reach the Farplane, they find a portal which leads to where Vegnagun has settled itself. This  area is interesting, there is a "puzzle" involving musical notes. I put quotations around puzzle, because I'm not sure it really qualifies as one, so much as you collect the notes from keyboards and then repeat them later, but it doesn't appear you have to memorize them or anything. The second area definitely qualifies as a puzzle, but I'm not sure how important the music is at this point. Yuna must step on a series of platforms in the correct order to play the melody retrieved earlier. You end up memorizing the order of the platforms more so than any music I think. I may have been expecting too much with the music, since I have a musical background, so someone else will have to chime in on that!

Memorizing the pattern...

The gate guarding the way to Vegnagun.

The first time I approached the platforming puzzle, I didn't get it, so just ended up going in an order that seemed appropriate. Once I reached the final gate, I was attacked by a guardian beast that mopped the floor with me. If you follow the right path, you don't have to fight the beast. I rather prefer this approach to instantly slaying the party or teleporting them back, because it adds an extra layer to things. In this example, an over leveled party could potentially defeat the beast, providing an alternate solution.

Vegnagun stirs!

The final battle is a typical, quality final fantasy affair. By "typical" I mean it's an epic, multi-battle affair, typical of the series, and it delivers. The Gulls first battle the tail, then make their way up past Veg's wings and feet to it's head.

I'll form the tail.

The path to the monster.

And I'll form... the head!

The Gullwings battle through the various forms of Vegnagun until they can reach Shuyin himself. Yuna is hopeful that love will conquer all. In other words she professes her love in the guise of Lenne to calm Shuyin down. However, Shuyin sees through the ruse, and in his anger, decides to kill 'em all. What follows is a pretty classic battle against Shuyin himself, armed with only a sword and his blitzing skills (which are "pallet swaps" of Tidus's overdrives). I find it refreshing after battling ginormous mecha, summoned beasts, one-winged angels and whatnot to end up going mano-e-mano for this final battle.

In the end, Shuyin is defeated, and Lenne does decide to make an actual appearance. After a somewhat touching scene, the two spirits are able to rest in peace. There is a speach held at Luca stadium, where the three Faction leaders talk about the lessons they've learned, while Yuna and the Gullwings skip town to avoid the hullaballoo. All in all, it's a pretty satisfying end to a pretty satisfying game.

"Remember Spirans, make good choices... stay in school, don't do drugs."

With peace achieved, we yet again bid farewell to Spira. However, there may yet be more tales of Spira to be spun, to find out, come back again soon... to This Bard's Tales!

   

Play Time to Post: 13h 30m

Total Play Time: 75h 57m 7s

FRUA: Neverwinter Nights - 3: A Different Direction

After playing Forgotten Worlds for a bit again, I once again found the urge to fire up Neverwinter Nights. I was oddly impressed by the intro music, not having heard it in awhile. It drew me in, I was ready for adventure!

There's trouble in Windycliffs! What kind of trouble? I don't know...

Our party awakened in their room at the Windycliff Inn. One platinum piece had bought them a single room with six beds. Kylie Tor, their nominal leader, had awakened early, and was discussing plans with the wizard Augustar. They spoke over bowls of hot beef stew. The rest of the party woke, stretching and making their way, bleary-eyed, downstairs for breakfast.

Windycliffs is the equivalent location of Spearpoint in Forgotten World, so it seemed a reasonable place to start this session. Doing a little exploring, I noticed some differences between the two games. In a ransacked house is a battle with some spies and a mammoth, of all things. However, in NWN the mammoth was not included, which I thought made the battle much more reasonable. I checked the editor though, and it turns out the mammoth IS supposed to be there, it just doesn't appear. The "spies" leading the mammoth are called "Kraken spies" in this game. A quick check at the Forgotten Realms Wiki tells me these are members of the Kraken Society, a secret society of thieves, assassins, and mages, founded by the kraken Slarkrethel. I remember them from the Savage Frontier Gold Box games, where they served a similar purpose as the Fire Knives did in Curse of the Azure Bonds.

Our party continued exploring the ransacked mansion. Approaching the next door, they heard the sounds of a struggle, something vary large was in this room! Silently, Kylie and her companion at arms, Ahriman, nodded at each other, taking up positions. Kylie flung open the door to a bit of mayhem, gnolls, hairy hyena-men, had a lasso around the neck of a centaur, and were attempting to subdue him. Kylie immediately came to the aid of the centaur, cutting the rope with one mighty two-handed swing of her magical battle axe. The centaur un-slung its bow and took up a position behind the party.

One thing I had forgotten about this version of the engine is that there is a leadership ability, that I believe paladins have, that will allow you to control of certain NPC's. This is always more fun when, as is the case here, you get to control a monster like a centaur.

The centaur's character sheet. I could really use that gem...

I mapped the woods surrounding Windycliffs, discovering a few new areas by doing so. As has been the case with both of these games, the excitement of discovering a new area is quickly tempered by the almost inevitable defeat by the new encounter it uncovers. The greenhag and owlbears I mentioned in my last FW post guard a secret door, but if I remember correctly they are only there during the day time. I used this fact to avoid them, as I am certain that even with a great amount of I luck my party can't defeat them yet. Beyond the locked secret door was a series of long hallways, where I encountered a group of Kraken spies and a harpy. I remembered harpies being dangerous, but couldn't place why, until she started charming my party members! I hoped the duration of the effect would be short, but in the end I had to cut down three of my own!

A harpy and Kraken spies.

To be fair, the harpy battle was winnable, but this one I didn't have a chance!

It's annoying that the battles often don't even have any flavor text, the 4 minotaurs and two snakes just appeared on the screen and beat the snot out of my party. After feeling I wasn't making much progress, I debated how to handle things. In the end, I decided my single class thief would be better off as a strong Fighter/Thief. Also that my triple class Cl/F/Mu wasn't advancing quickly enough, I decided to replace her with a single class mage for more fire power.

After a series of embarrassing defeats, the party headed back to Neverwinter to rest and recuperate. Kylie could tell the other party members knew something was up, as there was quite a bit of whispering and grumbling behind her back. As they were making their way through the warehouse district to the gates of Neverwinter, Kylie turned to Augustar, "Do you want to tell them?" she asked. "Nope," he responded shortly, "That's the kind of thing you signed up for by being our fearless leader," he finished, patting her on the back. Kylie nodded grimly.

Over supper that evening, Kylie pulled Alianna and Milkbottom aside, telling them that while they appreciated their help, the results "hadn't been what they'd talked about," and that the party was now going "in a different direction." Milkbottom kept quiet, looking every direction except directly at Kylie. Alianna crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and tugged on her braid furiously, "Well," she said, "So be it, I wish you luck, hmmph." And with that, the party was back to it's original four members.

"How'd it go?" Augustar asked as Kylie returned to the table, "Breaking up is hard to do," she said back, "but in the end, it's probably for the best. Let's start talking about recruits. Oh... and I think our little adventuring party could use a name as well, don't you think?" And so they conversed into the night, talking of a future full of possibilities. To find out what that future holds, come back next time... for This Bard's Tales!

Play Time to Post: 4h 55m
Total Play Time: 14h 25m