TV Tropes Link – Chapter 13: The Otaku Goddess and the Plot Against Neptune

Chapter 13: The Otaku Goddess and the Plot Against Neptune

Time to change gears yet again, as another sidequest comes up that’s a bit too hot to handle for the team at the moment:

World’s Labyrinth F. 2

Client: Labyrinth Researcher

One of our research members was atacked by a monster during our investigation. That giant creature… It must be the ruler of that floor. Please, avenge our comrade!

Recommended Level: 25

The girls make a brief stopover in Planeptune to figure out what to do next, before returning to Leanbox.

IF, The Mentor (5pb skit)

Lyrica, known as 5pb onstage, is naturally shy and reserved. IF offers to help her overcome her anxiety. The songstress says she’s more focused when she’s either performing on stage or on the radio, and IF think it may have more to do with her not liking herself as Lyrica. She suggests that 5pb should try gradually to reconcile the two facets of her life…or imagining the audience in their underwear…

The search for a Key Fragment screeches to a halt once again. The crew hreads to Leanbox’s Basilicom again to obtain some more information. Neptune examines the surrounding area in her Purple Heart form, but IF asks her to transform back because she stands out too much.

Archbishop Yvoire is still unimpressed by the girls, but concedes that Evangelist Conversation was right to believe in them, and thus gives them a map used by the military to locate boss-type monsters. After they leave, Conversation tells him that Neptune’s party is here because of the “Console War” brewing in Celestia. Overlord Momus destroyed most of Celestia, forcing the CPUs to escape to the human world. With the other goddesses returning to their respective landmasses, Yvoire finds it troubling that there’s no goddess in the Basilicom of Planeptune. Conversation suggests snuffing out Neptune to force Planeptune’s followers to migrate to other lands, and to try to gain a foothold in the war between the three remaining goddesses.

Another bounty job has been offered by the Basilicom. The Sanctified gives them a different map from the one Yvoire showed them, on orders from the Archbishop, supposedly a tough-but-fair ruler (except if you’re a non-believer).

A couple of new entries show up in Green Heart’s blog, followed by another request on the quest board:

Accepting Applicants

Client: Leanbox Knights

Witnesses say a Baby Shadow has been reported near a ruin’s entrance. We need to take care of it before any damage is caused. Anyone care to volunteer?

Recommended Level: 8

The girls are familiar with Baby Shadows, so they happily accept the request, which takes them to the lower level of a sealed ruin. The dungeon is quite large for something so low-level. It takes IF a little while to find the Blast Legs treasure, but they have no trouble taking down the Vile Dragon.

• Enemies: Gorbash, Weeping Grass
• Treasures: Green Pins, Gelatin x6, Reflex x5, Blast Legs (hidden)

The Sanctified’s map takes them to a suspicious old castle called Hirool. It’s a very majestic-looking castle, with background music to match – a far cry from the caverns they’d explored before. Their target is a headless Titan, who drops a Space Harrier disc (magic for Neptune) and a Leafy Stamp when defeated. Its only major attack is one that paralyzes its enemies, but it doesn’t provide any more than a casual nuisance for Neptune’s team.

• Enemies: Gyuki, Bat, Titan (boss)
• Treasures: Detoxin x3, Reflex x2, Leather Bracelet (hidden)

When they return, they find Yvoire waiting for them with an invitation from Lady Green Heart to a banquet at the Red Ring Table, to recognize their hard work on their quest to save the world.

The banquet table is filled with commoners from Leanbox, but no sign of the goddess. IF goes off to investigate, while Nep and Compa sample all of the delicious food. Yvoire confronts IF, and is somehow aware of her status as a Guild member, and they have an argument outside of the Basilicom over the “purging” of heretics. [note: There's a bit of a headscratcher/plot hole in this conversation: Yvoire first mentions that IF was born on Leanbox and doesn't worship Lady Green Heart, yet only a few text boxes later, he says that she's not from Leanbox, yet worships the goddess anyway; only the latter part of this is correct]. He then asks IF to kill Neptune so that Lady Green Heart doesn’t have to, promising her with full Leanbox citizenship if she succeeds. She refuses to do the deed unless she gets the OK from the goddess herself, so Yvoire arranges a meeting between them.

Green Heart arrives as scheduled, but she’s all tired out from playing video games and can barely stand up straight. IF takes the goddess to her chamber [totally innocent-like, trust me], waiting for her to come to her senses and ruminate about her passion for the Holy Triforce of video games, anime and manga. Greenie shows IF a few of her single-player games, including a zombie mall-survival blood fest. She gets embarrassed with IF being so formal with her, but an attempt to get IF to relax only serves to fluster her even more…

TV Tropes link – Chapter 12: Overlord’s Right Hand

Chapter 12: Overlord’s Right Hand

The team gets a bounty request from Lowee’s Central Basilicom. The party heads to a forest where a nasty Troll has taken residence. Financier, representing the Basilicom, doesn’t recognize Neptune in her Purple Heart form, so Compa has to try to explain that it’s actually her.

They follow the troll’s trail to an enclosed part of the snow forest. The area is surprisingly free of Cliones, but has plenty of materials for mixing medicines. The Troll is easily defeated, and leaves behind a body piece for the Martial CPU.

• Enemies: Zephyranthes, Rock Worm, Ice Fenrir
• Treasure: Boss’ Wood Sword, Reflex x3, Reflex x20 (hidden), Reflex x6, Detoxin x4

As soon as their mission is completed, White Heart transforms and attacks, demanding a rematch. Neptune transforms as well, in order to meet her CPU rival on equal terms. White Heart appears to get the upper hand at first, but Neptune breaks out an EX-Skill – a flashy sword combo which she dubs the “Neptune Break”, that shreds White’s health down to almost nothing. Sore after getting defeated yet again, she escapes.

A townsperson submits a new bounty request. This time, the target is a Gold Dragon holed up in a tower. Before they go out to do so, team Neptune sees another sidequest on the board waiting to be fulfilled:

Way of Faith

Client: Passionate White Heart Follower

Lady White Heart is so cute… I wanna show how much I care about her by getting rid of the monsters around here. Could someone defeat a Baby Shadow for me? Thanks!

Recommended Level: 15

The girls head back to the tunnel near the Basilicom for the quest. In an early room in the cave, IF discovers the Leg Parts needed to complete Neptune’s Frost set. Other than that, there isn’t much in the way of treasure to be found, save a Stuffed Snake near the Baby Shadow’s lair. The Dragon, still in its infancy, isn’t able to dish out much damage

• Enemies: Rock Worm, Berserker Bunny, Minotaur, Viper
• Treasures: Frost (L) (hidden), Stuffed Snake

With that done, they go off to the Bruagga Tower to seek out the Gold Dragon. When they reach the inner sanctum, they discover a heretic, scared out of his mind at the presence of the girls, thinking they’re msesengers of the Overlord sent to destroy the world. When he tries to run away, he drops a disc, which Neptune steps on and breaks to spite him. The broken disc releases a Light Dragon, which hardly looks like the Gold Dragon they were contracted to fight. The Dragon is very durable, and is capable of using an attack that lowers its victim’s attack strength (but this “Low Tension” ailment has its upside – it takes fewer AP to use skills). Compa uses this to her advantage to help take the dragon down before it can do any more damage. For their efforts, they receive the Overlord’s Right Arm.

• Enemies: Revenant, Bean Nighe. Hraesvelgr, Sea Bat
• Treasures: Reflex x5, Gelatin x2, Reflex x15 (hidden)

I hadn’t paid much attention to the cracks in some of the walls, but my dad says that it’s a result of old wallpaper decaying and tearing apart. In order for me to get this paint job done properly, he recommended that I stripped the top layer of wallpaper (not like that!) and sand the rest down. I spent the last two or three days (and a total of seven hours time) peeling chunks of old paper off the ceiling and the walls. It looks like there are two or three more layers of wallpaper beneath that, but I don’t think I need to touch that, lest I dig too far and scratch up the actual “wall” part of the wall.

To keep myself from going nuts on the second day of work, I listened to the latest Giant Bombcast, where Adam Sessler (formerly of G4tv’s X-Play) was the special guest. He didn’t talk much about the events that led to his exit from the program, which is fine because I think he’s listened to plenty of questions about that already. He seems to mesh pretty well with the GB gang, although I doubt he’d ever be a GB staffer full-time.

In other news, I got my hands on the first four volumes of Archie Comics’ Mega Man comic, which cover the first story arc, “Let the Games Begin” (a retelling of the events from the first game). Since it doesn’t look like Capcom’s going to be doing any more Mega Man video games for the foreseeable future, I wanted to see what this comic was going to do with the license (there apparently was a series of comics by Dreamwave several years before this one started, but got cancelled shortly before the company went out of business), and…it’s actually pretty good. Though not always consistent, the artwork and writing are well done, and some of the characters get a few funny lines here and there. I think I’m going to continue ordering the four-volume omnibus editions rather than getting each individual comic, to save myself money on shipping and handling.

Chapter 11: The Guild (No, The Other One)

Chapter 11: the Guild (No, The Other One)

No matter the number of powerful foes they defeat, no clue on a Key Fragment surfaces. They head back to the Basilicom, however…only to find that White Heart has closed to place to outsiders (no doubt she anticipated their return). IF tells Nep and Compa that she’s a member of “the Guild”, a group that doesn’t worship the goddess of their native land and are looked down upon as heretics. Financier, who chased them away not too long ago, is also a Guild member, only working under Lady White Heart out of a sense of duty.

There’s a place called Guild City (subtle…) among Lowee’s many cities, made up mostly of expatriates from Leanbox who wanted to create a place for people just like them. Compa tries to butter Financier up in order to help them get inside the central Basilicom, but Financier confesses that she doesn’t have that much power to get them inside directly. All of the Basilicoms are connected to Entremets via underground passageways, and IF plans to let Financier “guide” them to Entremets using these tunnels.

The tunnels, predictably, are filled with monsters, since the Guild members have never actually used them to move around. Fortunately, Neptune and her friends are more than well-prepared to fight them, and have little trouble sneaking through the tunnel into the central Basilicom.

• Enemies: Viper, Berserker Bunny, Gyuki
• Treasures: Reflex x7, Tuffmil x3, Gelatin x20 (hidden), Detoxin 4

White Heart, initially confident that she’d driven Neptune’s party away, is less than happy to see them when they suddenly emerge from one of the secret tunnels. Financier, Compa and IF leave as quickly as possible, in hopes that Neptune can get through to her. Just as White Heart prepares to explode into another of her rants, she becomes less hostile (but no less snarky) when Neptune addresses her as “Lady White Heart” instead of one of her usual cutesy nicknames.

The group visits another town to annihilate some monsters. According to IF, the town is a city ruled by Guild Extremists. IF is a Moderatist, who, unlike the Extremist faction, prefers to focus on worshipping, instead of condeming others who don’t follow their line of thinking. One of the Extremists points them in the direction of Dis Snow Forest, where there are more monsters lurking about.

While exploring Guild City, Compa and Neptune run into a game store that carries a device called a Watch & Game. Compa then asks Nep an on-the-spot question about the origins of the Game &—er, the Watch & Game, with dinner on the line of she guesses correctly. Out of the blue, Neptune blurts out “a calculator”, causing Compa to faint from the shock…that Neptune actually got it right. (Fun fact: According to this Iwata Asks column, Gunpei Yokoi, the maker of the Game & Watch, credits calculators as his inspiration, with the G&W using the same technology as a calculator.)

Quest time!

World’s Labyrinth F. 1

Client: Labyrinth Researcher

We’ve discovered a labyrinth on one of Lowee’s islands. However, no one has returned alive from there. Can someone go investigate the area and find the cause?

Recommended Level: 13

The cause of the disappearance is a winged demon called Thanatos. Upon its defeat, it drops a Test Potion X, a very powerful syringe for Compa (who, ironically, gets knocked out during the battle) that far outclasses anything the other two girls have at the moment.

• Enemies: Virpal, Wyvern, Minotaur, Thanatos (DS)
• Treasure: White Pins, Frost (S)

Dragon, Baby!

Client: Bearded Tunnel Man

Someone witnessed a green dragon carrying an infant on its back. Apparently, the infant was kidnapped from the nearby village. Oh boy, can someone help before the dragon eats the child?

Recommended Level: 12

The Dragon took the baby through one of the tunnels underneath the Basilicom. The party follows it to the end of the tunnel and give it a savage beating, rescuing the boy. Along the way, Nep finds a pair of Frost CPU pieces, with just the leg piece needed to complete the set.

• Enemies: Viper, Berserker Bunny, Gyuki, Minotaur, Guardragon (Boss)
• Treasure: Data Storage Keychain, Frost W, Frost B (hidden)

Once the side quests are completed, they head off to the snow forest to complete the anonymous Guild Extremist’s request, where they run into a part-frog mutant called a Tadpole. Using their most powerful weapons, the girls are able to dispatch it and pick up something that looks like Stuffed Frog.

• Enemies: Virpal, Rock Worm, Mandragora, Demonic Crab
• Treasure: Tuffmil 5, Detoxin 2, Gelatin 10 (hidden)

I’ve spent most of that time preparing for a final exam in Network Communications (which I finished earlier this morning with an A grade) and working on a small Dreamweaver project for my Web Page Development class. I had to cut back on up to 95% of my normal video game-playing in order to get them finished. On the bright side, this now means I’ve completed my first semester at DCCC, and can go back to a relatively normal work schedule (regular work and blogging). In the fall, I’m planning on moving into Flash, PHP and MySQL, and since they’re all Internet-based courses, I can take them from home without having to worry about travel expenses (except for those times when I may have to get books or other crap).

I also had to deal with a minor computer issue over the weekend, where the update to my AMD graphic card drivers screwed up almost all of the 3D graphics in the games I own. After spending a lot of time fiddling with my computer settings, I concluded that it was the new drivers themselves that were corrupted. So instead of updating to version 12.4, I’m going to stay put with 12.3 until AMD releases a new version that doesn’t make everything look like a demented checkerboard.

As a bonus, I used part of the money I won back from selling my textbook to purchase Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, which I hear is supposed to be quite a bit better than the original. I’m only about 25% done with the first Neptunia, and pretty much stopped updating my playthrough of the game to concentrate on my studies. I suppose I should try to finish the first game before even sniffing at the second, as I’m quite sure there are some things I’m going to need to know about the first game’s story for any of Neptunia mk2 to make sense. Then again, I’ve already started a new game file in Atelier Totori, even though I’m not quite done with Atelier Rorona yet. I’ll try to get an update done on that front by Wednesday.

I found out a few days ago that my school is offering courses on Android and iOS application development for the summer. It’s too bad I don’t have enough time or money to try that out, because mobile development seems to be “all the rage” right now, especially when it comes to website design. If I could figure out a way to get this blog platform on mobile devices, I would (although that’s more in the hands of the WordPress devs than mine), so …meh.

First step…acquire devkits. I only have the Android one right now because I think the iOS devkit can be used on a Mac. Plus, even though I think the latest Android version is 4.0, I can grab a kit for the older versions so that I can try out something that has a possibility of working with my phone (2.2). From the looks of it, I think I should bone up on my knowledge of Java, as well.

Okay, that sounds like a good idea. How about…

Yeah! …wait, what?

All right, then! I think I’ll go with…

*facepalm*

I grabbed The Pinball Arcade on PlayStation Network last night. It was out on Xbox Live Arcade the week before, but I chose to get it at the same time as the release of Skullgirls to save myself some time. Unlike Zen Pinball and Pinball FX, this game has four different based-on-real-life tables such as Theatre of Magic and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! I haven’t played any of these machines in real life, so I’ll just have to take Farsight’s word that they’re accurate down to the last detail. I’ve made it onto the top five (local) high score lists on all four tables, but just like in real life, getting the top score on each is going to take a lot of work.

Speaking of Skullgirls, I’ve followed this game pretty much since its first announcement last year. I’ve finished the story mode with three characters so far – Filia, Cerebella and Peacock – and even actually won a one-on-one game online. I’ve practiced a bit with Filia (and her living hair parasite, Samson) and picked up a few decent combo strings (without looking at combo videos on YouTube, even!) Of course, I had to download a character guide from the website since the movelist isn’t included in-game… I like her style, though, and she may be my “main” character for now, until I figure out how to effectively use the other characters. Painwheel looks promising, of otherwise completely insane.

Xenoblade, as you may or may not recall, is the first of the three “Operation Rainfall” games (a fan campaign to get Nintendo to publish/distribute more Eastern-developed RPGs on the Wii), having been released in Japan and parts of Europe several months ago and finally making its way to the U.S. today. I don’t expect this to sell that many copies here since GameStop and the Nintendo shop are the only places stocking it, but I’m glad that it got here at all. I’ll probably play this one a lot between Warriors Orochi 3 (also surprisingly good; shame about the lack of English dub, though).

Star Ocean: Second Evolution is the PSP remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story, which came out on the original PlayStation almost a decade earlier. This one is supposed to have much better voice acting than the original (which, while not on a level of badness as the first Grandia, made so many battles painful to listen to), but probably isn’t all that different from the first game. I may give that one to my brother if he still cares to play with his PlayStation once in a while.

P.S. Don’t bother trading in your PS2 games toward store credit; you’ll get almost nothing for them. You’ll be better off selling them at a flea market. PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS/3DS, and PSP/PlayStation Vita games are where it’s at nowadays.

Apparently there will be special promotions and events where you can get more of these cards. I’m certainly in a collecting mood, since more AR cards = more idols, and more idols put me closer to 100% completion. Something tells me that booster packs similar to the one I got today may show up at GameStops or other stores later down the line (similar to the figurines you’ll need to play Skylanders) if this game sells well enough.

(Mild spoilers ahead…)

As for the game itself, I’ve beaten Medusa. I was partially surprised to learn that there’s a LOT more of the game to be discovered after she gets beaten, if only because my completion percentage after reaching “Medusa’s Final Battle” was only at about 30%, and I still had a good chunk of the Treasure Hunt board challenges to complete (beat Chapter X in Y minutes, beat boss X with weapon Y, etc.) I’ve beaten most of those chapters on an average intensity level of 5.0, but I got beaten good when I tried to set that same difficulty level on chapter 10 and got waxed before reaching the boss…probably because I was trying to play the game early in the day on my way to school. I think I’m going to try some of those other challenges before proceeding further in the story so that I can save up enough hearts to get stronger weapons, though.