This entry will be updated a few times within a 24-hour period~! Edit: I might not play the game today since my right thumb is kind of sore. I suppose I should learn to stop having characters roll everywhere. >_>
Edit on October 6th: Back to playing the game now … even though my thumb is still feeling a wee bit weird.
I just noticed that you can tap a character to change their battle tactics. .__O; 20+ hours in and I JUST discovered it. I actually used the Options menu to change it once or twice, but I suppose, with this way, you can select individual characters? Not entirely sure since I only have Adol right now. :E Edit: Actually, I wonder how I did it cuz I can’t get it to work again when there’s 3 people in the party. …….. OMG. It’s via the touchpad in the back of the Vita. (Just looked it up in the manual.) Slide two fingers inward to trigger the defensive strategy or two fingers outward for offensive. (Huh. Seems like the correct term for the defensive one is “Avoid” or more accurately “Ignore everything and follow the leader” because that’s exactly what the party members do. :P)
- …….. Did Adol just climb out the window? >_> But aren’t those bars ??? I guess they’re attached to the glass. Oh wait, upon doing it a second time, I see that it’s a vent under the window.
. - Just spotted Riesa (Falcom always finds the weirdest ways to spell names) but totally ignoring her in favour of exploring the town. But, uh, is it just me or the entire map except the place she was walking to is already uncovered? 😛 So there’s no choice but to follow the suspicious girl!
. - Flashback! Looks to be a library but someone lives here? D: Bleh. Gotta wait around downstairs which just means looking at every spot that pops up with an exclamation mark. :3 Now I can go up to the balcony!
. - Did … this character always have 4 wings even in Mask of the Sun and Dawn of Ys?
Should this even be marked as a spoiler? I mean, the character profile already notes that he’s belongs to the winged race. 😛 (Why are the wings always spread out? Even the goddesses folded their wings.) Bizarre! I forgot to screencap him. XD
. - Oh geez. Riesa comes in after the flashback and is relieved to see that Adol’s still alive. She then asks if he remembers who she is. Your choices: “Lilia” or “Reisa”. 😛 I chose Lilia and she’s not surprised at all at the answer as she expected the memory loss. D: She explains some things and then it’s bed time!
. - Canlilica is currently a guest party member which probably means she’ll eventually join the team after the story portion in Highland is done! 😛 Since it’s daytime now, I can go around and bust into everyone’s houses! I wonder why the party is sweating so much while talking to Dario?
. - Just found Michey. Weird, creepy giant cat thing. Looks like someone in a cat costume. Hey! It’s a shiny pikkard. D:
. - As expected, can’t leave Highland yet. Lame.
. - After visiting the church-like place north of town, the party goes back to Aaron’s place w/o Canlilica and the player gets to answer a bunch of questions. I always wonder if they actually influence anything other than character reactions. Can’t take the northern exit right now but there’s a story flag on the Ancient Underground Ruin so here we go again.
. - Oh, actually, the story bit takes place at Silent Hill. …….. Gravediggers. D:!!! Ozma finds a piece of paper in(?) the coffin! The contents of the piece of paper … what does it mean? :0
. - More chatting at Aaron’s place and now it’s off to the shop to the west.
. - Ah! Gazok! NOW I remember why his name is familiar. He’s in Ys IV: Mask of the Sun. ^^ Buh, trying to decide what accessories to create.
. - Didn’t end up buying anything. At The Approach to Sanctuary now (聖域の参道). (Oh, Falcom …) Huh. There’s an exit to the west but it leads to a deadend right away. In the next zone, there’s a chest to the north with a Bitter Potion.
. - Heh. Listening to Mask of the Sun soundtrack while playing this area. Good lord, the enemies seem to do quite a bit of damage here. Maybe that’s why it was suggested to visit the shop before I left Highland. 😛
. - Hidden memory fragment again (on the east side)! No nice hand-drawn artwork. 😦 Anyway, Strength +1. Oh God, the Eglise is gonna be around again. Damn thing kept landing on me. ^^
. - Went back to Highland to reinforce armor. 😛 Oh dear God. I switched to the 回避 battle strategy and all the party members did was run around and pick up spoils. >_> In a way, I kind of like it how some of the Tales games do it where you can a billion strategy options from attacking weakest first, attacking enemies with the highest amount of HP, focusing on healing, etc. Falcom could seriously stand to put a little bit more. Anyway, I headed to the north exit in the zone with that had the memory fragment and the evil Eglise enemy.
. - Two chests and multiple harvest points are along the way on this linear path. A waystone is at the end.
. - Camp time and flashback in the next area!
. - In the Sanctuary of Thunderstorm (雷雨の聖域). Falcom misspelled this it as Sactuary though. There’s a device nearby that requires a Personal Action. I guess this is where Canlilica comes in? Or Gazok? I’m guessing it’s some lightning rod of sorts. Oh geezus, got struck by lightning. INSTA-DEATH. I was just minding my own business examining the thing! What the hell?
. - And what a coincidence! No need to return to Highland to get help but people try to shoo her away saying that children shouldn’t tag along and all that. 😛 Well, Canlilica explains stuff and sigh ………….. She’s crying. LOL. Poor Dulen. ^^;
. - WOW. She is prepared! *___* Beefy weapon and armor! But yeah, Canlilica’s Personal Action has something to do with the device. And of course, there are multiple devices spread out across the vicinity. Oh good lord, they’re only up for a limited amount time. (Got hit again. XD) You can see the area of effect as a reddish-purplish circle. Getting hit sends you back to the first part of the Sanctuary. -__- But at least any part of the map that you uncovered counts.
. - This whole part on activating lightning rods lasts three screens. The last part only has 2 devices so don’t get ambitious and try to explore the empty areas near the structure until you trigger the waystone. I think you’ll get sent back a ways otherwise. Looks like you may get a chance at some point afterward anyway since there’s a path on the west side that’s impossible to get to without dying right now.
. - Here are screens for all three zones and the locations of the devices: Screen 1, Screen 2, and Screen 3.
. - In the Tower of Divine Guidance (導きの塔) now. Gah. Some of the chests on the west side are mimics. Wish I had an absorb HP on Canlilica’s weapon. >_> Actually, I’ll just switch Carna’s armor with hers since the one Carna is wearing restores HP.
. - There are devices along the way that require Canlilica’s PA. I’m gonna shorten this to CPA. 😛
. - HOLY CRAP. Beware of the central circular area. Just had a dukeout with a few Zelsitu (ゼルシトゥ) and a mimic thing. Bloody hell. Canlilica would have been dead. Her health bar’s a 1 HP. XD They give 1507 EXP each though so some people levelled up. Regular enemies give less than 200 EXP at the moment.
. - East side has a red chest. It’s an item that’ll allow you to replenish all the SP you used to perform a Skill Finish, I think. (業師の手袋 – Tactician Gloves? Certainly not Shrewd Fellow’s Gloves. >_>) Headed back toward the central area to the exit leading to another zone. Wow. Those bunch of chests in a distance look suspicious.
. - Ha. Got the stupid mimic monster before it could even transform. The mini map didn’t show a chest so I knew it was an enemy. 😛 Huh. This second floor is pretty cool! Using the device in the middle triggers a portion of the floor to move giving you access to other areas. :3
. - Interesting! There are two devices on the southern platform. I’ll use the furthest one first. Got a platform to the red chest … except int’s kind of low so there’s still a gap. 😛 The other device lowers the gate on the eastern platform. Going back to the center area to use CPA again.
. - Eastern area has a required action from Canlilica again at the large section that’s northeast of the red chest. In fact, that device lifts the small platform that appeared from before. The orange glowing circle a bit north is a switch that’ll bring out two more moveable paths but it looks like they’ll be fixed in positions so you don’t have to keep rotating the same one over and over to get to places.
. - The red chest contains an amulet that nullifies Freeze.
. - Third floor! Ugh. Damn gargoyles inflict Heavy and they can teleport. Looks like CPA can be used more than once on the device. Weird. Hitting it again simply lowers the tiles.
. - The chests in the area with the multiple devices contain some mimic enemies. The real red chest has a Cerise Cape+8 (セリーズケープ). Heading upward now. Ha. Gargoyle teleported into empty space beside the path and fell down. 😛
. - Just reached a waystone in the next screen. Boss battle is coming up, I bet~! ….. Duh. I didn’t realize what I was doing in the entire battle. I thought I had to take out the pillar things to gain access to the boss somehow. XD Guarded a lot in this one. Whew. Ooh! A chest appears. I believe it’ll contain a new magic artifact! It’s a bit of a cliche by now.
. - Oh no. ^^ It’s the boots that’ll let you move super fast. XD (疾風の靴 Hurricane Boots?)
. - Holy shit. The run up the slopes is insanely annoying. Hope everyone has better reflexes than me cuz I got shot down about 5 times. >_< There’s a chest at the top level so don’t just run inside the building.
. - A Zelsitu right at the entrance! It’s actually not that tough anymore since all my characters levelled up but I put them on the “follow the leader” strategy so they didn’t fight it for a short duration of the battle. >_>
. - After activating the device, use the regular, non-orange-tiles to start the dash since they’ll give way as you go over them. The chest to the south is a mimic thing but the ones in the northern section are all right … except there are 3 Zelsitu there. Hmm. Kind of wondering if I should have gone back down now that I have the shoes that can let me go up vertical walls and such. (The one chest is going to bother me.) Anyway, ending the log here. :3 (Why does Eldiel live in such a place?)
Edit on Oct 21: I finished the game today but there my treasure chest count was at 99.5% so I spent part of the afternoon trying to hunt down the remaining chest to get the Treasure Hunter (トレジャーハンター) trophy. It turns out that, because I never failed the dash across the orange tiles, I never knew about the area below. 😛 Look:
To get to this area, here’s where to drop:
I’m not sure the side matters but I would go in the direction where Carna’s falling cuz that’s how I got onto the spot next to the chest. For what it’s worth, it contains an Elixir of Life (命の霊薬).
koukoupuffs 