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Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:25 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
Exploration / talking / looting session ahead, will grab relevant highlights but there likely won’t be a ton.
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:31 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
WOOPS THERE WAS SOME MAJOR EXPOSITION, that’s another zillion screenshots, onwards
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:34 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
First of all, obligatory THIS GAME IS PRETTY tweet, because Wazn is a lovely place so long as you like blue.
An empty and grandiose throne room, with an ornate floor and a complex throne. A wide hallway with fancy chandeliers and ornate pillars and walls. An ornate stairwell landing, with a sculpture of a dragon. Wazn island map, showing a complex palace and a beautiful clear sky.
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:36 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
I like that this game doesn’t hesitate to lampoon itself on the regular. There’ll be more of that in town.
Inspection textbox: “An ice lamp is on the shelf. Won’t heat from the light melt it?”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:39 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
Last major ongoing sidequest: collect animals all over the world, because Wazn is kind of hostile and they don’t have many species.
Yes the entire zoo will live in this one room, don’t ask
Court Lady: “So, I was wondering if you, a party of Queen Xelha that’s traveling around the five islands, could bring [cont]” Court Lady: “[cont] the animals from all around the world to Wazn?”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:41 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
We meet Gram and Leon’s grieving wives.
How is Xelha supposed to get a healthy emotional arc if people keep telling her nothing is her fault when it kind of really is, aaaaaargl
Gram’s Wife: “Barnette told me... about my husband Gram.” Xelha: “I’m so sorry... Had I been stronger, this wouldn’t have happened.” Leon’s Wife: “He was doing what he considered his own duty... his calling.” Leon’s Wife: “I’m sure he wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:43 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
Hey, remember Xelha’s “share of the loot” from 50+ hours ago, that’s been occupying a Quest Magnus ever since?
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 09:21 PM · Oct 14, 2020 Go 
A real charmer, our protagonist.
Xelha: “You want me to give these items to their families, to help them remember... is that it?” Xelha: “You know, I... Maybe I...” Kalas: “That’s your share of the loot. Enough to shut you up, I hope.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:45 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
It turns from “Mementos” into “Memories” after literally 50 hours (making the Memories a missable gathering item), and you can hand it in for a reward.
Quest Magnus UI, showing the Warriors’ Memories. Xelha: “I brought back their personal belongings for you...” Gram’s Wife: “*crying*”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:47 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
Captain Obvious one and two with strong entries here
Gibari, looking at a dragon: “Hey... isn’t that a dragon?!” Lyude: “It’s amazing! A creature of legend, still alive...”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:49 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
I do love the idea of Meemai being able to chat with the dragon, though. Between important creatures of legends, after all...
Great Mizuti: “Ah... the Great Mizuti relishes the thought of riding it some day!” Xelha: “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, O White Dragon? I’ll be asking you for your help again very soon.” Meemai: “Squeak.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:56 PM · Nov 24, 2020 Permalink 
Being the Queen does not give you infinite powers, apparently.
(That, or Xelha being 17 means she doesn’t have her dragon driver’s licence yet)
Random NPC: “Though she might be very attached to you, Queen Xelha, please refrain from riding the dragon without [cont]” Random NPC: “[cont] permission.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:00 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Last in the palace encounters is THE WORST DAD IN THE ENTIRE SKY
Father: “Your average sculptor definitely wouldn’t be able to engrave like this around the edges.” Child: “Dad, look! This chandelier is done pretty well!” Father: “Shut up! Stop talking like you know everything! I’m busy now, so be a good kid and keep it down!”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:02 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Off to town, which we didn’t get to see while running after Xelha earlier, and THANK GOODNESS, this time the topic does not get entirely dropped.
The party in the ice city. Title card: “Cursa, the Snowy City” Gibari: “Tell us why the Queen of Wazn would need to embark on such a dangerous journey?”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:07 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Storytime, adding another point to our timeline. Or getting the number slightly wrong and it actually lines up with Georg fleeing the Empire.
Xelha: “It was about nine years ago, I think...” Xelha: “Barnette... my Royal Nanny, the one you met back in the palace, felt something strange was going on in [cont]” Xelha: “[cont] the outside world.” Barnette, in a sepia flashback: “It is but a pebble in calm waters now, but its ripples will grow... until, some day, it will swallow all...”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:09 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
We finally get some clarity on the three witches. Their designs are so sophisticated for characters with so little on-screen time!
Catranne might also be the one non-mocked fat character but she’s also half-chicken so, er, IDK
Xelha, over a sepia flashback: “So she decided to send out three witches, to keep an eye on the outside world.” Kodelle: “...” Glamyss: “...” Catranne: “...”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:12 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
We get confirmation that they were disguised at fortune tellers, plus a dangling lore point gets tied up.
I guess this is why Corellia lamented that “the witches were long gone”.
The three witches, now disguised as Old Fortune Tellers: “...” Lyude, back in the present: “Could they be the ones who wove the magical shield encircling Anuénué?” Xelha: “Yes indeed, it was them. We actually bumped into them on several occasions on our travels.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:16 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
It is not bad practice to SHOW things again when a game is this long, even if it can feel heavy-handed.
Catranne, as the Nashira fortune teller: “Malpercio sucked up the entire ocean, but choked and drowned in the very water he swallowed.” Glammys, as the fortune teller Savyna met: “Anuenue awaits you. You must go... go and face your destiny...” Kodelle, as the Reverence fortune teller: “Hmm... now this is strange... This young man here, I feel no Magnus within him.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:18 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Leaving aside the mismatch in character positioning and Kalas’ cape having gone AWOL in the flashback: I guess this is why the Nashira fortune teller was warning Xelha about TRUSTING WEIRD STRANGERS.
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 06:33 PM · Oct 17, 2020 Go 
There’s a fortune teller around, who basically gives us the story from the opening but with a few differences. There was an Ocean and a Whale, Malpercio drunk the Ocean and ate the Whale.
Old Fortune Teller: “Once, long, long ago... When the world still had an ocean...” Old Fortune Teller: “Within the ocean, an enormous fish called a “whale” would roam about freely. Old Fortune Teller: “An evil god appeared, and swallowed the entire ocean... Every last drop of it...” Old Fortune Teller: “Malpercio sucked up the entire ocean, but choked and drowned in the very water he swallowed.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:21 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
And then everything was fine for seven years.
We’ll get clarification later, but “two years ago” here is when Giacomo and pals murdered Georg, causing Kalas to run off, and meet Mélodia.
Xelha: “We began to wonder whether we had made too much of a fuss about it...” Xelha: “But then, two years ago... Barnette suddenly had a strong premonition, an ill omen, speaking [cont]” Xelha: “[cont] of ruin and destruction.” Barnette: “Those not meant to meet have indeed met. An ominous, terrible tragedy is in the making.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:24 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Xelha had her own premonition, which we also will get more details on at the very end of the game.
We’d gotten the maid story before, now we know it was a front.
Xelha: “That very night, I had an awful nightmare...” Xelha: “So... I took two guards with me, Gram and Leon, and left...” Xelha: “We reached the Empire, and heard ominous rumors about the Emperor. I posed as a maid and [cont]” Xelha: “[cont] found work in the Imperial Palace.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:27 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
We’ll get back to the design of Geldoblame’s chambers when we get there in the present, because that’s going to be a VERY annoyed rant about fatness and queercoding being tied with implications of sexual predation
Xelha: “Eventually, I found out about Geldoblame’s secret scheme.” Xelha, over a flashback of poking around the Emperor’s lavish chambers: “I stole a pendant, which seemed to be the key to his plans, and ran away...” Xelha: “The Emperor spoke of something being sealed away in Sadal Suud’s Moonguile Forest.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:31 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Speak for yourself, Gibari. Savyna was breaking down and fleeing the Empire, Lyude was narrowly dodging court-martial, and who the heck knows what Mizuti was up to two years back?
Xelha: “It was there that I met Kalas...” Lyude: “...which leads to us here, now.” Gibari: “Xelha’s battle started long ago, while we were still living the simple life, with no idea what was about to [cont]” Gibari: “[cont] happen.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:33 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
Must have hit all the triggers because the knight shows up the moment Xelha says we’re off exploring.
Xelha: “Well, enough reminiscing...” Xelha: “Let’s take a look around town until Barnette’s done with the preparations.” Knight: “Barnette is ready. She’d like you to come to the ritual room.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:37 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
The locals have their quirks.
The indoors ice fishing is a nice touch, it’s far from absurd if you know polar circle cultures.
All the kids making snowmen are very committed to telling you they are ARTISTS.
Random NPC: “This snow is very nutritious, you know. It’s all you need for a balanced diet!” Random NPC, ice fishing: “Shush! Shush! You’re gonna scare the fish away!” Child making a snowman: “I’m sorry. I got a little carried away there. The art of a genius is difficult for some to understand.”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:39 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
And a few more rounds of lampooning.
Considering their outfits, everyone besides Mizuti should be complaining A LOT MORE and Gibari in particular should need urgent treatment for severe hypothermia.
Random NPC: “Hmm? Aren’t you people cold dressed like that?” Random NPC: “How can you stand wearing such thin clothes? Is the Land colder than this place?” Inspection text: “It’s a cooking pot made of ice. How on earth do they cook anything with it?!”
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Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:40 AM · Nov 25, 2020 Permalink 
After rescuing a lost kid in the ice cliffs to keep filling in the Family Tree, that’s all the exploring for now.
Next time: absolute worst boss in the game edition one, and more snowy errands!