Dear Readers,
Just thought I'd fill in the Collectopaedia for Valak Mountain. We had all the items so I just confirmed the slots into which all the stuff goes.
Nothing that seems to special. Frost Glass and Large Handcuffs are in the strange category but they don't seem strange at all. Oh well.
Dear Readers,
We found the Sesna Lexos fairly quickly. It was enormous. It was like one of those flying things at Eryth Sea but much bigger. It was LV47 as well.
We lured towards solid ground and fought it. We beat in just in time before it could launch a fatal attack on me.
We picked up its drops, one of which gave me a vision of Dunban picking up a Silver Lexos Heart for someone named Rakzet who wanted it to become like us Homs. Strange scenario from the future.
Dear Readers,
Mumkhar is just too strong for us. Time to do some quests or whatever.
I looked up the Sesna Lexos for a quest. I found that it is on the upper level of Valak Mountain, southwest of Hollow Bone and some further up the mountain at all times except nighttime. Let's go hunting!
Dear Readers,
We went hunting for Sparas Paguls north of Nofol Tower.
There were quite a few of them around a frozen lake and they were easy to deal with, though they toppled us a good few times. It was funny seeing the other slip and slide around the ice and going far away, though that did make the battle take longer.
We needed to defeat 5 of them for the quest and there was more than enough here.
Dear Readers,
With that fun bit of hiking research gathered, we went back to the Nopon camp with our findings. The Nopon asked which had the better view and I had a choice between Befalgar Pedestal and Kana Peak.
In my own opinion, it was Kana Peak as there was so much to see around it, whereas although Befalgar was higher, it didn't have as much of a view because it wasn't on the peak.
I looked up this choice and it said it didn't have any impact on quests or rewards as either was fine, so I chose my favourite of the two, Kana Peak.
Dear Readers,
Now to research Kana Peak. Coming down from Befalgar Pedestal, the red exclamation for this point was very clear and I could see a clear, yet narrow path on the way towards it.
This was very easy compared to the previous research point and it was a lot of fun to hike towards as well. It was pretty funny to see Reyn's health bar appear, even though I didn't see him falling off the path.
To fall off here for real though would be no laughing matter! It really does give a feeling of being a treacherous place to explore. It's such a narrow path and it's so high up above everything around it.
We continued walking along this narrow path on the ridge, collecting items and finding the actual area that gave us experience points. Both Sharla and Reyn were falling off now and I tried my best to be careful and not fall off myself.
The ridge itself doesn't appear on the map, which is kind of annoying. It comes down to its lowest point in the Bagnar Snowfield and looks like it's pointing towards it.
Dear Readers,
We went to the Nopon research camp to cash in on the Chilkin and Antol quest. This got Sharla to LV 50. We the main trio were now all at this level. Should we go after Mumkhar now? We'll do a few more quests if we can.
The Nopon researcher from last time had another quest for us and it was simply to go to various spots and see what the view is like! That's it! That's my kind of quest!
We agreed wholeheartedly to take in the scenery at Befalgar Pedestal and Kana Peak. Enemies might get in the say and spoil the pleasure of exploring but we won't worry about that for now. I'm just glad we got a nice quest like this!
Dear Readers,
We had to go on that stupid slide again to get back to the Antol Den. We kept missing the last jump more and more. It was annoying enough to make me want to give up on the game again. It's just so boring.
Again and again we tried and failed to make that last jump. Then we made it and immediately got killed by the big creature again. Then a few more times of failing the jump we made it there by me sliding up the wall a bit at the end, which got us over there. That's what I think anyway. I can't be sure at all. It's just such a stupid obstacle.
The big creature came after us again but we just ran around the platform until it stopped. Then we lured and beat up the smaller Antols until we got the quest finished.
We immediately left. Didn't want to hang around here at all.
Dear Readers,
Next on the list were Ent Antols. I didn't know where to find them so I looked them up. They had their own den and the only way to get there was by jumping off the obnoxious ice slide at the right time.
I fell off this slide several times. Using it barely feels like anything. The characters just stand up straight on their feet while using it. I just kept thinking how it was nothing like the slides from Super Mario 64. There was barely any feeling to it.
Also, jumping off it was a nightmare. I had to get speed and then jump at the end without bumping off of anything. I couldn't try to get speed before the bend so I accelerated immediately after. With that we just about made it. Many other attempts launched us through the tunnel into the Nopon camp. Very glad to have fast travel to zip back up to the top.
Slides are supposed to be fun. This one wasn't that fun. Not like the ones in Super Mario 64 anyway.
Dear Readers,
I decided to hike back up the mountain. It was a pretty hike, but I'll probably do fast travel all the time instead.
We wanted to focus on quests before we take on Mumkhar again. We found some more Poleaxe Chilkins and defeated them for a quest.
Dear Readers,
Mumkhar was LV48, not far behind us at all and he beat us fairly quickly in our first attempt.
I made several more attempts and switched characters but we were absolutely no match for him at all. The battle just ends too quickly with us dying to him.
In that cutscene, Dunban asked him why he betrayed us and killed the people in the colony. Mumkhar answered "because it's your home" which is a fairly nasty thing to say but again, why was he so resentful in the first place? Also why can he remember stuff but Fiora doesn't? Maybe we'll find out later.
So far I know I can daze him.
Dear Readers,
We brought the Magma Rock back to the frozen door of the tower and melted the ice with it. The door revealed. It was big and had High Entia writing on it. We looked at it for a while wondering how to open it when Dunban just walked up to it and it opened up automatically.
We went in to a smallish chamber. I got a feeling I knew this place but I couldn't recall everything. Alvis explained this was where the Monado was kept before it came to Colony 9. So all those years ago this was where I first encountered the Monado as a young boy.
The subject went on to visions of the future and the ability to change the future and how it all related to ether. Alvis said his family had the ability to see the future but there was always a ritual where family members must touch the Monado before they gained the ability of foresight. With my ability, I had the power to change the future as well.
I wondered if Zanza intended for all this in the conflict with the Mechons.
The next step was to go to Sword Valley. There was a heart-to-heart here for Dunban and Riki but it wasn't active yet. We spent the night here before heading off in the morning. As we were leaving, Dunban paused to think of something. Wonder what it was. Alvis is holding back on stuff and maybe he's concerned.
Dear Readers,
Conflagrant Raxeal. Still trying to fight it.
We tried picking off the Nebulae around it but one of them is called Moonlight Paimon and it's much stronger than the other ones. We made sure to avoid engaging with that one.
We kept luring the nebulae out from the lava one by one and fleeing when other enemies got involved and/or when party members went into the lava. Sometimes we had to lure the nebulae back out into the corridor to beat them up individually.
It was a very slow process but we got them all beat, except for the Moonlight Paimon.
We then fought the Conflagrant Raxeal, continuing the luring and fleeing strategies so that we could get in good enough positions to fight it. Eventually, we beat it, obtaining the Magma Rock as the prize. At last!
It wasn't enough we had to fight it but we had to make room to fight it as well.
Dear Readers,
Now to fight the Conflagrant Raxeal in a strategic way. I don't want any other enemies getting involved and I don't want party members to wander into the lava.
We started with picking off the Nebulae. It was tough and we got clobbered by the stronger ones. I did level up though and we got an Ice Cabbage, which gave me a vision of Riki saying we'll need them for Colony 6.
I saved again and tried again.
We got killed again. Whew.
We repeated this a few times and continued getting what we needed from Hoxes. We got killed more times too.
Dear Readers,
We looked for the Magma Rock and found the Lava Cave. It was a big contrast to the snowy wilderness outside.
We scrapped with a Noto Feris and got the Feris Aged Ale for the freezing Nopon. There were Hoxes here we needed to fight for other items.
We got the story quest area and saw there was a big creature in the way. Probably a boss so I saved.
This creature was called a Conflagrant Raxeal and it was LV45. It was definitely in the way so we picked a fight with it.
We got our butts kicked. It didn't help that there were Nebulae getting tangled in the fight and party members were going into the freaking lava and just standing there. We'll have to do this in parts.
Dear Readers,
We continued past the geyser on the path towards the tower, with more downhill sloping.
We met a pretty tough bird called the Atomizek Ansel. Nearly killed us a few times. We made it daytime and it seemed to change a little bit. The spelling of its name became different at least.
Pretty soon after the geyser we found a pass that led to the tower.
A cutscene played where we came across an area that was frozen over. Alvis said we needed to melt it and told us to collect a Magma Rock from a cave near a geyser. Is it the same geyser we passed on the way here or a different geyser?
Saying we need to look for a geyser when we just passed one is kinda silly haha.
Dear Readers,
We ventured on from the Nopon Camp and came across Jakt Geyser. The Nopon said it would shoot us back up the mountain so we gave it a go!
Wow! The geyser shot us all the way back up to Hollow Bone! It was pretty cool!
Near the pool we met a poor little Nopon who was freezing to death. She said she needed some food to help her resist the cold. We agreed to collect 3 Hox Flints from Porcu Hoxes, 2 Antol Fire Pouches from Ent Antols, and 1 Feris Aged Ale from a Noto Feris in the area.
Whew. We haven't met these enemies yet. We will though.
Dear Readers,
We mingled with the Nopon at the camp after the chilly slide.
The leader's name was Dakuku and he was worried about someone he sent to study Chilkins. I got the "Networl of Knowledge" achievement from speaking to him, which was awarded to me for getting to know many Nopon outside of populated areas. It's fun to speak to them, though they are hard to find on account of being so little.
There was a shop here too and another Nopon had a quest for us.
The quest was about Chilkins and Antols who were fighting all the time which was interrupting the Nopon's research. We agreed to defeat 5 Poleaxe Chilkins and 5 Ent Antols in this area.
Dear Readers,
We got to Valak Mountain and it was very very cold with snow all around. Reyn and Riki weren't thrilled with it at all. Alvis directed us to a tower in this area.
We chatted with some Nopon Merchants who set up camp near the entrance to this area. They had directions, a shop and a bunch of Monster Quests. We agreed to take on all four of these quests.
At a glance, there was a lot of snow, a lot of thick grey icy mist and a very steep slope going downwards. The Nopon told us to keep going and meet some of their researcher friends, clearing monsters along the way.
We got the first monster quest done and dusted quickly, which was nice.
As day turned to night, the tall ice crystals emitted this really cool ray of light straight up into the air, making the snowy areas glow.
We then got the third monster quest done, which was nice too.
I made room in the inventory for the Lucky Chilkin Ring, which gave me a vision of a future quest for Oleksiy and Zel. We'll have to get two of them. Melia was in the vision.
It was fun hiking down this mountain and the music was a soft piano tune. We reached the next landmark, Hollow Bone. There was a Nopon patrolling here who directed us towards the tunnel nearby. We'll go there next time.
This Nopon research team kind of reminds me of Captain Toad and his team. In any case, it's really nice to see a new area in the game after so long.
Dear Readers,
The next scene took place in some repair place on Mechonis. The Mechon that had Fiora inside was getting repaired.
She was talking to someone, saying Zanza was not dead. Someone else called her by some name that was definitely not Fiora. Who was Lady Mayneth?
She wondered why Zanza did what he did and then said she had feelings for the boy that Zanza chose. When she got repaired she said she wanted to meet me. She said something about some kind of reawakening and then flew off towards the Bionis.
Metal Face saw her flying away and then realised it was Fiora! Dun dun dunn! There's a lot of stuff to explain with these Homs/Mechon hybrid thingies.
