Lia's BK tweets archive - 2021-09-17: Holoholo Jungle, more electoral fraud

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:48 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Made it out of the jungle and back to Komo Mai yesterday but crashed before making the thread, so let’s catch up?
It looks like Anuenue is definitely Busywork Island again.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:52 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

The path got flooded by the rain. There’s a Pollywhale in there being adorable, and a SUBTLE HINT about the fruit it’s interested in.
Another SUBTLE HINT was the Sifda attendant talking about those fruits growing in the jungle.
Plus it’s the only screen we can access.

Sagi: “There’s no way across... The pond must have swollen from yesterday’s squall.”

Milly: “Say, Sagi, do you think we could get that pollywhale to help us?”

Sagi: “If we could get it to come just a little closer...”

Sagi: “It really seems to like that fruit.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:56 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

The Sfida attendant mentioned “maybe you can use rocks to knock them down”, there are rocks nearby, it’s not much of a puzzle.
I can’t tell if the timing is random or based on when you close the dialog, but if you goof up and hit the bird it understandably wants to fight.

Sagi: “Let’s aim for the biggest one! We’ll have to time it so we don’t hit that Holoholo chick.”

Sagi winding up to throw a rock up at the tree.

Textbox: “Obtained the magna essence [blue text] Holoholo Fruit [end blue text]!”

Combat screen, showing the party facing three Holoholo chicks. We started it.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 07:58 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

The fruit baits the Pollywhale closer, we jump on its head, apologize, and refuse to go back the other way because that’d be animal cruelty.

Sagi, wings open, bouncing off a Pollywhale.

Sagi: “Let’s head to Komo Mai for now. We can go back later.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:01 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

The reason this whole sequence feels meh to me if that you can see all those interactive bits from the start, but aren’t allowed to do anything with them until they become relevant. While that makes sense in the abstract, it’s jarring in game logic.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:45 AM · Sep 13, 2021 Go

Going south leads to a series of almost side-scroller-like maps, and eventually to an intersection that offers us a number of Suspicious Interactive Things.

Sagi standing in front of a small body of water from which several paths radiate, with a wing icon over his head.

A large tree with large red fruits at the top. “There’s brightly colored fruit growing on the tree.”

Milly: “Sagi! Those are “blooderflies”, not butterflies! One sting and you’ll be too busy scratching to sleep!”

A colorful bird in its nest. “Judging from its loud cries, it’s a member of the species “obnoxious.””

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:05 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

After a quick go through town see if anything has changed (it hasn’t), it’s off to the palace. The queen is elsewhere, because of course, but we couldn’t get help here anyway, how surprising.

Anuenue Guardsman: “Queen Corellia is off meditating at the Veineoots of the Celestial Tree. I’ll be happy to assist you in her [...]”

Sagi: “We wanted to ask for help with ship repairs. The vessel we came in on has been grounded.”

Anuenue Guardsman: “But I’m afraid we cannot help you.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:08 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Guillo’s definitely cranky, but the actual problem is that it’s weird advanced tech this nation is bad at. Good, that makes sense! And if we’ve been at the port, there are mentions that ship traffic’s been low, so we’re extra-stuck really.

Guillo: “You’re not going to start preaching to us about neutrality again?”

Anuenue Guardsman: “As you can see, Anuenue is one with nature.”

Anuenue Guardsman: “We simply don’t have the means to repair a ship made from machina.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:11 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Can’t leave us without a crystal-clear quest pointer, of course. It is a weird thing with the school of magic, it does house ACTUAL magic in this game but even that class is just lore. It’s odd.

Anuenue Guardsman: “Perhaps you should consider dropping by the School of Magic.”

Anuenue Guardsman: “It houses all sorts of knowledge, magical AND otherwise. You might discover something worth your [...]”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:12 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

What I can see coming is that there’s more jungle on the Opu side that needs a landmark stone, so it’s gonna find an excuse to send us that way, probably with a busywork quest to convince the head teacher to entrust us with one of the magic rocks.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:19 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Because subtlety is overrated, leaving the palace sends us into a cutscene with kids testing a contraption and namedropping the maker. CONVENIENT.
Also feat bonus Anuenue Corruption Fun

Stuck-Up Kid: “Guys! Check this out! It’s Lolo’s latest invention!”

Girl: “Liar. Lolo’s busy making the waterwheel, my mom said so.”

Stuck-Up Kid: “Yeah, but I asked my father and he gave her lots of money so she’d make time for this first!”

Stuck-Up Kid: “OK, um... I just put this Holoholobird feather in, and... mmm...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:23 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

The thing makes bird noises and starts running after one of the children.
Guillo, we saw you play with the kids at the orphanage, drop the edgelord act.

Girl: “Ahhh, make it stop! Hey, come on, ahh!”

Guillo: “Noisy little whelps. This is why I hate kids.”

Sagi: “But look at the gadgetry inside that toy... I wouldn’t mind having one, either.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:27 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Guillo also forgets that Videogame Logic applies. Of course it’s a stretch but THAT IS THE ENTIRE PLOT.
It’s still fascinating how Sagi is basically just as... not bright... as Kalas, but is consistently kind about it. Millys’ the brains of the group and that makes him happy.

Milly: “Well, whoever designed the gadgetry in that toy might know how to repair the Sfida.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:29 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Also a sidenote that while the second kid has no relevant dialog the nametag is, er. Worth highlighting. Anyone got a guess as to WTF it’s about?

Kid with a nametag that says “Second Banana”: “Really? Cool! Come on, make it do something!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:32 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

A nearby NPC does the required foreshadowing. Regardless of where the queen is, this Lolo person is in Opu, so.

Komo Mai resident: “Lolo is as amazing as ever. As a hopeful engineer myself, I really respect her.”

Komo Mai resident: “She lives in Opu, right? I wonder how she gets here through the Holoholo jungle?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:37 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

I finished up with another round of Check All The Things to start accumulating election ballots. The most complex it gets is someone wanting traditional cookies on the Righties side, meaning you need to carry more originals to get through.

Research Assistant: “Ugh, I ate too many [blue text] glubberfish filets [end blue text] while canning them. Got any [red text] Komo Mai cookies [end red text]?”

Research Assistant: “It tastes like dye, and the color is awful! I wanted the other kind.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:38 AM · Sep 17, 2021 Permalink

Next time it’s off to the other side of the school. The head teacher is being way more precious about landmark stones than the headmaster in EW, so I foresee more busywork.