Sword of Mana, Part 4 - Combing the Desert

Shaddap!

Better than The Girl being late.

WOW. We just started and I'm already going to hell.

Julius proceeds to fireball the hero right back out the window. Before that, he manages to get the pendant from The Girl. This pendant is a hell of a macguffin.

Dark Lord is upset that Julius didn't capture the hero.

Cibba with a message to Britt before being blasted off the airship as well.

Dark Lord shows some empathy for Britt after her beating from Julius.

Brit gets escorted out by a guard. Once they're out of earshot of the villains, it turns out that...

...the guard was Bogard in disguise! So we're continuing with the behind-the-scenes FFA story that's all new to us, as The Girl struggles to escape captivity.

Time for the Airship dungeon. Basically doing it backwards. The Girl and Bogard is a real power team, probably the most interesting one this game can pull off.

Level 16, and Brit gets her next class. I went Grappler->Monk with the intent of going to God Hand next. Big attack bonus to punching and healing, which is great.

The stat screen is intense, with a lot of information. It's a little bit overkill for such an easy game. I don't even have the fist weapon yet either.

The airship layout is somewhat faithful to the FFA version, only with a lot more detail.

THERE THEY ARE, GOT 'EM

I find a magic orb and wail on it for a while with my new weapon to gain a bunch of weapon levels. It's so weird that you can do this.

Let it charge up and the power attack is basically a Hadoken. Jim Cornette is OUTRAGED.

The airship deck. Someone revive Bogard!

Eureka! Time to shut this airship down.

But first, boss fight. It's a stunted version of Kilroy from Secret of Mana, a recurring machine design in the series.

Inside the reactor, we find...

...Brian Dennehy? What the? "I'm Brian Dennehy!" he says.

...no, it's just Gnome. What useless spells will he have for us?

Gnome recognizes Julius by his old name, Vandole. As for his spells, he has a defense-raising spell. I haven't used it. The game is too easy for buffs.

After taking out the reactor, we see the airship from a distance. It's pretty crazy.

After a nasty crash-landing, we're FINALLY FREE. Wonder where The Boy is during all of this. Likely still in a coma after falling through that rooftop. Maybe buying Gold armor in Jadd by now, not sure how much time has passed.

The next part is a bit of a wasteland. We trudge through it to the next town, no big whoop.

The Boy's lover Amanda brushes by. She's like "oh no it's the other woman" and runs quickly.

Oh, this is the town where The Boy was in a coma. He just woke up, so we have perfect timing.

Bogard: "So, son, you hittin' that?"

Jer: ::looks at Brit:: "Uh"

So, the pendant that The Girl passed to The Boy on the Airship... Amanda just took it and left town. So uh...yeah. It seems she was headed to the Medusa Cave, so that's where we're going next.

Since I waited so long to get the Knucks, I go ahead and upgrade them at the forge using various worthless debris strewn about the landscape. It's like a modern-day Final Fantasy.

The Marble Knucks are Tier 4 Knucks (out of, presumably, 8 tiers), which makes them significantly more powerful. Most of my other weapons are sitting at Tier 1, not that it makes much of a difference when my weapon aptitude is off the charts for everything.

I upgrade some of my armor at the forge while I'm at it. This is a lot more involved than just buying a suit of Gold Armor in Jadd like you did before. These upgrades mean an easy game is about to be even easier.

Speaking of Jadd, here's the desert town.

The townspeople here talk a lot of shit! Our next major foe is Devius, who has been upgraded to Count Devius.

Here's Devius Manor, the domain of the vile dictator of the region. We can't tackle this area (or Devius) yet, though, because...

...Medusa turned everyone into birds. This is a wee bit different from FFA.

"You said something. WHAT?"

At this point I wander around the desert for a bit. I have to find those two palm trees that mark the Medusa's Lair.

Here's an area that I can't go into yet, some kind of nuke-poisoned valley. Curious to find out what the story here is.

Here are the palm trees in question. Run a figure-eight around them, as in FFA, to unlock the lair. I swear, things like this existed in 8-bit games to sell Nintendo Powers and strategy guides. In a game from 2004, it's out of place and weirdly obscure.

A very Xenogears-like cave, this is, with sand-falls.

The next weapon is acquired here. Since the Girl can't use a sword, this is pretty much the closest thing for her to slash with.

Except she hits with the blunt side of it, or at least that's what it looks like visually. YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!

We acquire another spirit here. It looks like Sylphid from Secret of Mana...is it Sylphid? Hard to say when these games have translations by different people.

Jinn's spell is actually useful: A speed-boost that lets you run fast for about 30 seconds. I use this a lot to whisk past foes.

Our heroes arrive to find that The Boy and Amanda already defeated Medusa. It's becoming apparent that this is a notably different game if you play as The Boy.

Here's the actual boss fight with Medusa, a Boy exclusive. You get a lot more of the FFA story with a Boy playthrough.

Devius arrives, and he's PISSED.

Turns out Medusa was his mother. Well, we'll be dealing with him soon enough.

Before she dies, Medusa bleeds all over Amanda, causing her to turn into a rabid monster.

Jer tries to talk some sense into her...

...but it's too late, as The Boy is forced to kill her.

...man. I guess not everyone from the original game gets spared this time.

In the next episode: Devius, Dryad, and Dark Lord.

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