Lia's BK tweets archive - 2021-11-23: Even bigger plot twist, Shanath, escaping the mysterious fortress

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:48 PM · Nov 23, 2021 Permalink

So er where were we before I disappeared into a vortex of work.
Right. Sagi’s an afterling and dead, Milly’s Baelheit’s daughter and sold us out, and Guillo-from-the-past murdered Sagi-as-Marno?
THAT SURE WAS A THING THAT HAPPENED. Onwards, somehow?

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:57 PM · Nov 23, 2021 Permalink

Oh okay we’re just putting the meta commentary THAT plainly in the text this time. Someone tell the Undertale fans

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:12 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

(This thread may get interrupted at any time by me falling asleep because geez this took a while)
The black screen quickly fades away and turns out Sagi’s not dead. Shocking.
And, good question, because this is as nondescript an area as it gets.

Sagi bound to a large... monolith? in an mostly-empty dark room with a pit in the background: “Where am I...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:15 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

The entire thing is a long bit of branching dialog, much of it with little consequence except flavor. Summing up the events doesn’t hurt.

Dialog choice: “Sagi! Are you all right?” vs “Sagi! Can you hear me?”

Sagi: “I can hear you. I’m glad you’re safe.”

Dialog choice: “We have to get out of here” vs “Do you remember...?”

Sagi: “This wound... That’s right... Guillo stabbed me.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:20 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Ah. Right. Yeah I guess that adds up doesn’t it.
What a great twist on the twist of the first game, again using the player-character knowledge gap but in a completely different way!

Sagi: “And... I think... some people were calling your name. But they were talking... to me...”

Sagi: “In the age of the gods, everyone called me by your name.”

Sagi: “You’re not a guardian spirit, are you... Lia, you’re—“
Dialog choice: “Malpercio” vs “I’m a guardian spirit!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:22 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Moar summing up. Yet Sagi is human again, how bizarre.

Sagi: “So... whenever one of Malpercio’s afterlings was defeated,”

Sagi: “your memories came flowing into my mind...”

Sagi: “and then finally I went crazy, just like Bein and Celsica did...”

Sagi: “Mom was the trigger that set me off...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:26 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

I’m trimming this for length but TLDR OUCH.
I also read this as addressing the player directly though, and questioning the cruelty of play and story-partaking towards characters!

Sagi: “Heh. All this time I thought I was a spiriter...”

Sagi: “When I first felt you there, I was so happy. I thought, “Great... now I have a friend.””

Sagi: “But I was just as scared as I was happy.”

Sagi: “You were closer to me than anyone else I knew, and I never knew a damn thing about you!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:30 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

It goes on a while, the voice actor has a really decent delivery and it is UNPLEASANT

Sagi: “Spiriters are a chosen few? They have the power to sway the world’s future? Give me a freaking break!”

Sagi: “Suddenly I had someone else’s mind taking a lease out on my heart...”

Sagi: “I thought, wouldn’t it be great if you just went away.”

Sagi: “... But not anymore. Now I finally know who you are.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:33 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

The “...” just loops on “...” from Sagi.
Otherwise we get to practicalities: Malpercio’s very strong, duh, and taking over.

Dialog choice: “......” vs “What comes next?”

Sagi: “Ever since I lost control, I can feel your presence inside me growing.”

Sagi: “You’re Malpercio. So I guess you must be trying to consume me.”

Sagi: “And eventually, I’ll disappear—because your heart is so much stronger than mine...”
Dialog choice: “No, I don’t want that!” vs “I guess I can’t stop it...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:36 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

The only actually critical dialog choice! It’s VERY IMPORTANT, think carefully!
... so it’ll have consequences hours down the line, right?

Sagi: “You have to choose. Will you be part of me? Or will I be part of you?”

Sagi: “This is important. I want you to think it through before you decide.”

Sagi: “No matter what you choose, I won’t have any regrets.”

Sagi: “What do you want to do, Lia?”
Dialog choice: “You be part of me” vs “I’ll be part of you”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:38 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Or not. (This is the first option)

Sagi: “All right. If that’s your decision...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:42 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Pick the correct one instead and a dark silhouette leaves Sagi, turning into a bright one that infuses him with enough power to break out.
Fittingly the glow concentrates in his arms. It was Marno-ar-[spirit name], after all.

Sagi: “Lia! You mean you’ll stay with me? We can still travel together?!”

Sagi: “My heart feels lighter. It’s filling with strength!”

Sagi: “Thank you, Lia! I’m glad we’re still together.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:43 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

And right on cue, the cavalry shows up. WHERE FROM

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:56 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Milly fills us in on what happened while we were out. Tik and Wacho being responsible for anything is moderately terrifying but I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Milly: “When you... When the afterling consumed you, we were sent back to the age of the gods, and—“

Milly: “After it was over, Guillo and I found ourselves back in the plaza.”

Milly: “You were about to collapse... During the commotion we took your mother and fled Mintaka.”

Milly: “She’s recuperating in Hassaleh now. Tik and Wacho are taking turns looking after her.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:58 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Oh also from the Key Dialog Choice onwards the music gets happier, and the core notes sound confusingly like the start of the Golden Sun title screen theme. (Yes I know it’s the same composer)

Lia @liareplaysbk · 08:59 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Yeah that bit’s gonna be a touch awkward isn’t it

Milly: “Hey, Sagi... There’s something that I really need to tell you.”

Sagi: “My mind was on other things at the time... but I did hear what you said.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:02 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Or not! Because Sagi is entirely too good a boy I guess!

Milly: “Please, let me explain! It’s different now. I’m not—“

Sagi: “I know. You’ve traveled with me all this time... I trust you, Milly.”

Sagi: “If it’ll make you feel better, you can tell me anything you want. But let’s get out of here first.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:04 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Have to run before the not-friendly cavalry shows up but let’s check things first-
Well played, videogame, well played.

Inspection text: “This is the sturdy iron block to which Sagi was bound.”

Sagi: “Hmm? Something has been stuck to the back.”

Textbox: “Obtained the valuable item [blue text] Magnus Pack Coupon [end blue text]!”

Sagi: “Who the heck would put something like this here?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:08 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

We then find ourselves in a huuuuuuuge vaguely mechanical dark room with locked doors and Convenient Interactive Objects.

Sagi standing on an artificial-looking platform with a few closed doors and an electrical mushroom nearby. The room is shrouded in darkness.

Sagi: “This is one of the Empire’s flying pods...”

Guillo: “I don’t know what they’re making here, but it looks like these are the only way to get around here.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:11 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Possibly because Imperial soldiers aren’t too bright, or because Mintaka is at the forefront of usability research, the pods have instructions written on them. How convenient!
They hammer home the point three times, it’s a bit clumsy.

Inspection text: “About Flying Transport Pods”

Inspection text: “The pod moves automatically, once provided with a source of energy.”

Sagi: “Power... energy... Maybe we need to give it something [blue text] electrical [end blue text].”

Sagi: “Let’s search the area for something we could use as a replacement power supply.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:14 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

And that’s most of this dungeon, powering pods and managing speed to dodge encounters. No real puzzle since every platform has spark shrooms to avoid you getting stuck, lots of battles, it’s pretty tedious overall.
Local monsters: soldiers, drones, and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT

Sagi inside a transport pod, flying by a drone.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:18 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

The way this always overexplains its mechanics is both good and bad. It avoids cryptic puzzles, but it also turns it real dull. I’ve cut out two more screens of “Ooooh, maybe this could save us some mixing work”.

Inspection text: “This short-circuited machine is releasing a torrent of electrical discharge.”

Sagi: “Look at how much electricity is being discharged here. Just how much power are they using here?”

Guillo: “Sagi, it looks like the [blue text] spark shroom [end blue text] magnus is reacting.”

Textbox: “The spark shroom absorbed the discharged electricity and became a [blue text] jolt shroom [end blue text].”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:20 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Have I mentioned the overexplaining

Sagi: “Huh? There’s something written here.”

Inspection text: “About Flying Altitudinal Pods”

Inspection text: “This flying altitudinal pod differs from other pods in that it allows for prolonged vertical travel.”

Inspection text: “Note that it requires [red text] several times as much energy [end red text] to power than standard transport pods.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:23 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Oooh, big red button. Big red button good, yes?
HEY I didn’t even get a save flower, that’s a convention that didn’t need breaking!

Sagi: “It looks like we can go up using this switch. Should we press it?”

Shanath: “Hold it right there, please. I can’t allow you to run loose any longer.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:26 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

I’m pretty sure this is significantly more foul-mouthed than EW ever gets despite Kalas being Kalas. Unsure if that’s the original text or translation choices though.

Shanath: “Don’t get so wound up, puppet. I promise each of you will be put out of your misery in turn.”

Sagi: “Go to hell, you son of a bitch! You hurt my mother!”

Shanath: “Oh, my, aren’t we a bundle of energy?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:30 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

After one more bit of Villain Monologue, Shanath gears up with an arma and it’s bossfight we’re supposed to lose again.
He, er, is not completely wrong here though is he.

Shanath: “No surprise. You were the only subject able to reconcile with the afterling inside him.”

Shanath: “My orders are to spare you, but as it turns out, I have my own agenda.”

Shanath: “And the notion of letting a monster run loose with a wicked god inside him is one I will NOT ENTERTAIN!”

Shanath: “Now... my arma and I are going to bring this fiasco to a close.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:34 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

He’s got a pretty great design that could really benefit from being lit correctly, but that’s not this engine’s forte at all.
Anyway we “win” by doing enough single-digit damage to be forced to give up, yet again...

Shanath hovering in the air, kitted out with ornate mechanical wings, an attack glove with long claws, and a half-mask and chestplate.

Sagi: “No!! You’re going to pay, Shanath. I swear to you, you’ll pay!”

Shanath: “Hm hm ha ha ha! You may be a successful experiment, but you’re still just an experiment.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:36 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Sagi we really need to talk about this ill-informed tendency to charge at things with your sword when there is no chance of killing them

Shanath: “You’ll never have the power of a true spiriter!”

Sagi, blade stuck between Shanath’s claws: “Wha?!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:40 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

In a totally unpredictable twist that was so signposted you could see it from space, we-the-wicked-god give Sagi a much-needed power boost and turn the fancy lights back on.

Sagi: “Unnh... What do I do... Dammit, how do I beat him?! Isn’t there any way to stop an arma?!”

Sagi: “...Lia?!”
Dialog choice: “Join your heart with mine!” vs “Concentrate!”

Sagi, arms glowing, standing back up with his sword.

Shanath: “Hmph! Forget the heart-to-heart. What do you think a shattered god can do?! You can’t win!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:43 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Sagi charges again, we go back to the bossfight but this time we do actual damage, and down goes Shanath.

Shanath: “Hah! What did I just say? You can’t—“

Shanath, being charged by a glowing Sagi: “What?!”

Shanath, sprawled out on the floor: “That’s... that’s impossible! He broke through the arma?!”

Sagi: “It’s over, Shanath. Get ready to pay the price!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:59 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

[cw: blood in illustration]
As befits a villain dying, Shanath decides to lore dump.
“Malideiter” is a mouthful. Dei- means god (deus in Latin), so I wonder if the Japanese words for spiriter and malideiter echo each other more.

Shanath: “Such strength... I never thought any man would be able to harness the afterlings’ power...”

Shanath: “I’m saying... you’re not a spiriter. You’re a mockery.”

Shanath: “A “malideiter”. You’ve got a piece of a wicked god where the spirit’s supposed to be.”

Shanath: “But I wonder if you knew that someone PUT it there?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:07 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

[cw: blood in illustration]
The Empire needs an ethics committee. We’re not far off from MOAR unethical experiements happening in that lab either, since Kalas is born two years later.
Okay so Olgan wanted the perfect heir and put Baelheit to the task, so far so bad.

Shanath: “It all happened fifteen years ago. A study was commenced at Olgan’s behest.”

Shanath: “He tried to turn his son into a tailor-made spiriter that could inherit the Empire.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:12 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

[cw: blood in illustration]
Guess the whole “collect orphans and experiment on them” was just a thing! Great job, Alfard!
Shanath then starts emitting magical black fumes like we’ve seen from every Malpercio-related thing.

Shanath: “They gathered test subjects, from newborn infants to adults—and forced the afterlings to nest within”

Guillo: “You’re one of them, aren’t you. A malideiter.”

Shanath: “I was lucky. I never had to turn into a monster like you and those other wretches.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:15 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

[cw: blood in illustration]
In what feels like a somewhat pointless peripeteia, Shanath runs off with a pod.
We’re understandably banned from going back down, and forced to follow.

Inspection text: “Sagi! Forget about that, we’ve got to hurry after him!”

Sagi: “Shanath! There’s no place else to run!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:18 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

[cw: blood in illustration]
My read here is that Shanath is Olgan’s son. Can’t imagine how being experimented on only to turn out a disappointment would maybe affect their relationship a tiny bit.

Guillo: “Answer us one thing before you die. Why did you kill Olgan?”

Shanath: “I wanted to kill him. With my own two hands. That’s all.”

Guillo: “Why? Did he do something to you?”

Shanath: “I have nothing else to say. Go on, Sagi. Take your revenge and be done with it.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:21 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

While I went for the “Plz no murder” choice here I guess Sagi takes the same decision no matter what. Might go back and check at some point.

Sagi: “You don’t even have to ask!”
Dialog choice: “That’s enough! Sagi!” vs “......”

Sagi: “I know, Lia. There’s no point. Right?”

Sagi: “His “spirit” isn’t going to give him much longer, anyway.”

The party walking away from a dying Shanath.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:29 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

[cw: blood in illustration]
Kinda supporting my read and excuse me what name did you just call that kid. I guess dark green somehow turned purplish over 20 years...?

Shanath: “The Spiriter Project... It was supposed to make the perfect heir... not kill him.”

Shanath: “Heh heh heh... Oh... if my old man... saw this... he’d die... all over again...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:31 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

And worry not, BKO is still committed to Bed Facts.
Along with “a city, no, a metropolis” visible through the glass, this has Sagi wondering whether this place is supposed to be lived in eventually.

Inspection text: “It’s too dark to see clearly, but it appears to be a bed.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:38 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

After going back down to fetch a couple treasures I missed because I assumed there would be a save point before the boss LIKE GOD INTENDED, we find the exit.
No new dot on the map, we can’t go back.

Sagi: “It looks like we can get out through here.”

Milly: “Yes. I think it should put us out somewhere near the port of Mintaka.”

Sagi: “Mintaka?! So that means this was somewhere in Alfard?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:41 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Obviously this all prompts A Lot of questions, among which the ones the plot doesn’t want me to ask involve where the hell Alfard is finding that much ore and whether they’re burning oil and causing Fantasyworld Climate Change with all that power generation

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:42 AM · Nov 24, 2021 Permalink

Next time: no idea! I guess I’m supposed to leave Alfard so obviously I’ll see if it lets me revisit things first.