Revenge of the Hand: MacDaddy Mike's playthrough topic part 2

Eradication over quicksand analysis, no, but these are all small events that point to greater thematic relevance. It's the same curiosity that led to splitting the atom, and then there are incidents like Chernobyl that pretty much forever-ruined the landscape and all life there.

I forgot that you take damage when walking through lava, which seems like something that's hard to forget, but I ended up getting into a fight with all my guys at critical HP. I survived, barely, but it was a lesson quickly-learned. Before long you run into Solt and Peppor and they do their tutorial-esque shtick which somehow never gets old, and I actually laughed out loud when Peppor said "What in spice's name are you talking about?". This fight wasn't difficult at all, not like they're ever supposed to be anything but entertaining, to which I'd call it a success. Peppor ended up almost killing Solt himself.

Then you run into the "Mini-Dragon", *wink wink*, and a fight instantly breaks out. This was brutal, and the Dragon outright murdered Guile right from the outset, targetting him three times in a row and killing him before he got more than one spell out. Guile's my only guy really stocked with Blue elements (yeah, not a wise decision by me, I know), so I used my one-and-only Revive on him to make sure I could deal some heavy damage. I like that the game really limits the Revive opportunities you have, as opposed to having Phoenix Downs you can throw at a whim or whatnot--adds a challenge and requires more strategy instead of brute force, I think.

It wasn't long before the Dragon killed Guile again, but not before he used his most powerful Blue magic and did a boatload of damage with it. I even got the Dragon under "Flu" status, which I honestly am not sure what that does, but I think it either lowers his stamina or decreases his damage output, or both if I'm lucky. My guys were still getting hit hard and I only had a couple of healing options that got used up, so I decided to have Serge use TurnBlack on the Dragon so I could then pump him full of White elements that Serge and Glenn both had in stock, and thankfully the extra damage from changing his Innate was just enough to pull me through. I finished with Guile fainted and the other two in critical health, but this was definitely the closest I've come so far to getting a game over.

Last night I got up to where Kid is poisoned and I opted not to save her. Korcha's a toolbag. I talked to the priestess of Guldove and saved shortly after.

I didn't realize there was still another fight in Mount Pyre, against the remainder of the Dragoon Devas (but Glenn was there, just not fighting on their side). They started the battle by hitting quite hard and I thought I was in for trouble, but I did well by focusing on one at a time with physicals while using multi-targeting elements, and then it wasn't so bad at all. Guile actually got all the kills, taking out both Marcy and Karsh with a Gravitonne and then beating Zoah with a Wandain when he wasn't even in critical stance. Yeesh. Despite him being powerful, Guile's balanced fairly well at this point in the game because he's so difficult to set up. I only really get to use six or seven elements on him at this point because he's got such a tiny elemental grid.

Moving on to Fort Dragonia, another area with absolutely kickass music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ3Hj0VY76M

I got through the first floor, going through the four elemental areas. The yellow one is the easiest in terms of combat, with only two stupid bat things flying around, but took the longest of all of them by far because of how often you have to switch up your party. It would have been a little better if the save point was closer, but it makes sense why they put one in the main room instead. The blue area was easy cakes and ends with a bossfight against a...giant blob. Okay.

The red area was the shortest but had the most spoils, but it was the green route where I found the best ones--a HealAll and a Bushbasher, both of which were new to my arsenal and very very useful. Here you fight against a giant robot who pulls off wrestling moves, which is as cool as you can get. He choke-slammed Glenn into the ground, guys. CHOKE-SLAMMED. I didn't have many yellow elements to use against him, so after exhausting those I turned his innate to Black and Luminaire'd his ass.
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Attractive people love Mac's playthrough videos ~ Reliable Internet Personality
http://www.youtube.com/user/MacDaddyMike

The genie that pops out of it during battle kind of looks like a Goron.

Polly killed Serge literally on the first attack of the fight. You know what else sucks? My only revive spell was equipped on Kid because she was the most resilient member of my party who never fainted, and I can't get that spell back until she gets her ass cured from being poisoned in Guldove. So I couldn't even revive Serge after he died. However, the fight went on for a good while with Glenn and Poshul and I came pretty damn close to beating Polly with just those two. So although I lost, it was still a lot of fun creating the strategy that got me that far.

btw, I never appreciated Harle until this run through the game. She's such a cool and unique character.
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We are the ZSB and F*** YOU!!!
{aB} http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=548 {aB}

That sucks, James. I unequipped and took all elements off Kid well before the scene where she gets poisoned, just in case. I've gotten lucky so far, though I did have Serge down for one of the bossfights in Fort Dragonia.

The fight in the elevator against "Son of a Gun" was a weird one, in that it was surprisingly easy to the point where it feels like it was a programming error. Son of a Gun has very very low health, and it was definitely the shortest bossfight so far. The look of him really creeps me out--it's like fighting the trollface.jpg.

You take the elevator up and it's familiar territory as you replay the beginning of the game. Of course, things are a little different because dreams can only be so prophetic, and not only did I not have Poshul in my party, even Kid took a backseat to Guile and Glenn. The fights are also a little tougher and there are more enemies about, and then there's a bossfight against a very strange-looking creature by the black seal. He starts off Red Innate, which confused me, but before long he sprouts this giant monster out of its mouth and the battle arena goes all psychedelic. This fight was actually difficult for me because Serge was taking a mean beating, and he didn't survive it in the end, but I won the battle nevertheless.

I was really hoping for a save point, but there's nothing for a loooooong time. Beware: after you go up that elevator from the main room in Fort Dragonia, you have about thirty minutes of gameplay until you reach another save point. Entering the really badass room with all the dragon statues leads to a fight against General Viper, and he doesn't put up much of a challenge at all, but he himself claims that he's just playing with you and that the next fight will be serious. But then SURPRISE no next fight because Lynx comes up and stabs the distracted Viper in the back. For how little screentime he gets, Viper gets some good characterization throughout this scene, beginning the fight by apologizing for the need for a fight, but saying that nothing can stand in the way of his plans. Man of honor who gets stabbed in the back. Hmm.

I learned from the fight against the last Black Innate boss I fought and started the fight against Lynx by casting TurnBlack on Serge, so that he wouldn't take as much damage from Lynx's black elements....too bad Lynx used white elements throughout the entire fight, and targeted all of his physical attacks on Serge, killing him quickly (and Serge had the only Revive, sheesh). I was barely able to keep Guile and Glenn alive, and exhausted all of their healing elements before winning the fight by a hair.

I'll talk about the following scene later, as I just had a really ****ty night at work and need a warm meal and a stiff drink. Really stiff.
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Mac plays the games he thought he knew (Current: Chrono Cross (PS) and Ninja Gaiden 3 (NES)):
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/548-zsb/61122424

My Serge has lower HP boosts than everyone even when he survives the fights for some reason. He has a good 30 HP less than Guile and Glenn but it's all because he just gets smaller boosts every damn time. I'm surprised about Poshul, though admittedly I haven't used him much. It occurred to me that I could have had Skelly by this point in the game, and I'd probably keep him around if I didn't go with the Guile route.

The cutscene and everything around it that plays out in Fort Dragonia is wicked, and finally makes sense of the visions that Serge has been having. Switching bodies with the villain is something that I'd not seen in another game since, 'nor before, so let me know if it happens elsewhere, but I still think it's a fairly unique idea that adds another meaning to this game's title. Your party gets stripped from you but you know that you can eventually get it back, so it's not just an annoying loss but a motivator to keep trekking.

I got surprised at a bit because all action stops for a moment and there was nothing going on on-screen for a good thirty seconds, so I moved my control stick to see if I had control and was somehow shocked to see that Lynx was moving and not me. It's definitely an interesting way to show you how you've switched bodies, and then making you fight the group as Lynx is the last little moment of hopelessness before it all crumbles down. Kid is stabbed, your party-mates are subdued, and in a snap of his fingers, Evil!Serge destroys all the statues in the room and makes for his escape.

The only thing I'm confused about is why he let Serge and Kid live, though I imagine he still needed them for something down the line that I can't remember--maybe a backup plan of sorts, or maybe it was just a convenient moment of villain hubris.
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Mac plays the games he thought he knew (Current: Chrono Cross (PS) and Ninja Gaiden 3 (NES)):
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/548-zsb/61122424

Harle's reasons for joining your party are a little confusing, and I took a different route in the text than I usually did and went with responses that have me confused about whether or not I'm Lynx instead of just saying "I'm Serge!" over and over again. She seems to join you because she believes that you are Lynx, at least in the weird sort of existentialist way that if you inhabit the body then you must be him. She even suggests that your memories as Serge are false and that you've been Lynx all along--and, well, that's not impossible, right? After all, Serge is dead in this world, and if Serge is dead then who am I? It's all fairly confusing, and speaking of chilling dialogue:

*shudder*

I had some time yesterday so I recorded the footage for the next part, but I won't release it for a couple of days so as to pace myself.