Romancing SaGa 2, Part 6 - Bokhohn and the Sand Ship

 

Next generation choice contains Ruby Soho and AN ACTUAL BEAR. (Note: Not an actual bear)

If a furry gets eaten by a bear, is that cannibalism?

I break the chain of casters and go with Andromeda. Her main traits are being a good melee fighter and throwing orgies in Avalon every weekend. Yeah, one of those degenerate emperor types that always get overthrown. She mocks the lineage of all the previous emperors!

I've gotten somewhat reliant on greatsword-users for their damage output, and having greatsword-specific abilities to carry from generation to generation also helps.

Just realized, all the heavy armor I'm dropping on the heroes is probably the reason why more and more enemy groups are getting pre-emptive attacks, which is super annoying when it happens.

Starting to also worry a bit that my spell skills are being left behind. Pretty much only focused on swords and light magic all game. If there comes a point where another element is integral, I might be in trouble.

The Gemstone Mine apparently came back under attack, so we gotta re-clear it.

Turns out an evil stone was behind it! Anyway, next area.

This lake is brimming with enemies. It's the home of...

...Narwhal, which can either be a very tough boss, or a friend, depending on if you bought that seashell from that one guy earlier. In my case, she's an ally.

She broke a bridge by accident, and somehow, talking to her about it fixes the bridge. But what's this? Subier, you say? It's another of the 'heroes', but I don't think you encounter this one for a while.

Talking to the right people gets me my next unlocked location, Cape Chalier. Go there, clear it out, you know the drill.

Cape Chalier really IS full of monsters, and is a short but very difficult dungeon. Weird thing is that the town that immediately follows it...doesn't have an inn. The one time you really need an inn. There's a boss fight there too. It was nothing worth screenshotting, just an obnoxious moment of the game.

"Like, small towns are soooo boring" says this kid.

The Empress sleeps alone while the bodyguards all huddle around a fire.

"Damn twin-size beds" grumbles Andromeda.

We hear rumblings of the Sandship, a flying fortress that roams around the plains.

Turns out the ship is owned by El Jefe Bokohn, drug kingpin and Seven Heroes member, and he's monopolizing all of the local herb. Can we stop calling them the Seven Heroes yet?

We can't catch up with the ship. So instead, one must talk to a random townsperson, get drugged, and wake up as a slave on-board the ship.

...the hell.

This is hands-down the worst part of the game, because you have to fight through the entire ship with no weapons. A team of spellcasters would have no trouble with this, but my team isn't that.

Running away from as many fights as possible is advisable. This is a lot like the Blackbird in Chrono Trigger, which was my least-favorite part of THAT game too.

Our heroes work on the conveyor belts under the watchful glare of their overlords. I didn't realize there would be a Game Developer Sim portion of Romancing Saga 2. MEET THE DEADLINES, SERFS!

Big mean man whip us!

Yeah, this place is horrendous. The enemies are as strong as they are anywhere else at this point, and my team is barely capable of outputting damage. At least you get one fairly powerful sword in this dungeon, which I put on my strongest attacker and let them unleash hell with Mirage Strike. The Empress was able to do some damage with Light magic, and the other 3...were just kind of there.

Finally, the "throne room" of the ship. If this boss is super strong and I have to remake my entire party/build I'm going to croak.

Wait...not Bokhohn? Are we in the clear?

Just kidding, this is totally Bokhohn. He's a feen for amphetamines.

The fourth of the Heroes is the weakest since the first, which is great because of the state of the party. The fight was manageable, as long as I brought that one sword from the dungeon. It wasn't bad at all. Having so many status effect resistances built up over time on everybody is really doing me some favors.

Four heroes down, three to go. Damn, am I closing in on the endgame already?

Feels good to go back to the Avalon storage room and get all my equipment back.

At this point I wander lost for a bit, looking for something to do, until I stumble upon some villages in the plains. Stay at the inn here, and...

...TERMITES INVADE! It's Them! all over again.

Our heroes chase the termites into their lair. What is even happening in this game

What follows is a cave dungeon, with this giant Queen Termite at the end.

Boss fight! For some reason all of these termites look semi-mechanical, and not much like actual termites.

Weird thing is, this termite legion is a recurring enemy in this game.

With the termites defeated, the Mole People reclaim the cave network. Now I can recruit them if I feel any pressing need for a Mole.

Looks like I've passed the mark of half of the map being annexed to the Empire. I've been to a few other areas (without annexing them yet) so overall I've seen probably 70% of the world map now.

TIME JUMP. We've had a bunch now, I can't even remember what generation we're on. It doesn't matter too much, because after the first two (Leon/Gerard) the rest are completely interchangeable. At least until the final one.