Dear Readers,
We continued filling in the map for Alcamoth ground floor, going up through the middle from the Fountain of Hope, or whatever it's called.
We met a kid who likes running and a Nopon who talked about secret areas. No doubt there's one in this region too.
An imperial guard standing next to a vehicle had a quest for us. We agreed to get 3 Orluga Slacks for him to make a doll for his child that he doesn't get to see very often due to his job. Bless...
Dear Readers,
With the perimeter explored, we went on to fill in the map of the Alcamoth ground floor.
We met a boyfriend who joined the guard to impress his girlfriend, but his girlfriend was missing him now that he was going off on these missions.
It suddenly got all dark and a thunderstorm started. It was all dry in here though. The place is like a gigantic glasshouse.
We found the Fountain of Hope with many people around talking about other people who had names. No doubt I'll be dealing with said named people eventually.
There was someone here with a quest. This lady wanted us to collect 5 Stardrops and we agreed to. This made her happy.
I didn't commit any of the names to memory. Seems like it's people arguing amongst themselves over some gossipy drama. Who knows. I'll probably find out sooner or later.
Dear Readers,
We continued exploring the inner circle of the ground floor in Alcamoth.
We met a guy who wore his pillow out by washing it the wrong way. We agreed to collect 2 White Tails at Eryth Sea for him.
We met a parent who was going to miss their child when they grow up. We also met a child who was fond of their father that works nights. Must be hard on the people that have to work all the time.
After this, we finished mapping out the inner circle of the ground floor. Now for the middle...
Dear Readers,
We explored the non circular part of the ground floor perimeter of Alcamoth.
We met some young High Entia who were splashing around for fun in the water with a Nopon.
One of them said it looked like they were having fun but they were supporting each other physically. I'm not sure what they meant, but it sounded like their parents were busy doing some dangerous work. Sounds like it would be good to have support alright.
Dear Readers,
We finished walking the circular perimeter of the GF part of Alcamoth. Whew. It was long and boring.
We met some NPCs that popped in all of a sudden and they spoke about whatever.
Coming to the end of it, there were a couple of spots on the map we hadn't filled in, so we traipsed all the way back to fill them in. Not sure why, just did it anyway.
We met a Nopon named Piko. She came up as "Worried about relatives" and said she didn't want to go near Baroba now that he was smelly. She was really happy that he was happy though, so that was good at least.
Dear Readers,
5 Alcamoth citizens gathered in a circle. One of them was a Nopon. It sounded pretty important.
They blabbed about something secret that only Talia knew about. I had to find Talia and ask them myself. I have no idea if I met them yet or not, since most characters look and sound the same.
Dear Readers,
We started exploring the ground floor of Alcamoth during the day. I feel like screaming.
A man named Vol'aren was minding his son and daughter. His son went missing. We agreed to help him find his son. He came up as "Treasures his children." His daughter Cian came up as "Adores anything cute". I always thought Cian was a boy's name. Ah well.
I got a vision when I collected a Stardrop. It was of Melia collecting all 5 for some lady. Later quest I suppose.
We then found the son, Atael. He came up as having "no sense of direction".
The dad thanked us. Then he said Cian went missing! We found her in some water nearby. The dad thanked us then too.
Vol'aren absolutely adored his kids and was missing his late wife dearly. It was very nice to hear him talk about them.
Dear Readers,
We continued exploring the semicircle road of Alcamoth, meeting many people.
Some wanted to learn about monsters.
We met a Nopon in the flowers who loved drinking. We almost missed it as it was so small.
We met a girl who was thinking of having a different boyfriend who could protect her from Nebulae.
We had the whole semi circle explored now, but it was only daytime. We then descended a floor and found another huge area to explore that was full of people. This is gonna take forever.
Dear Readers,
We continued exploring Alcamoth. We met many people who talked about fighting monsters and being worried about the Mechon attacking like they did on Colony 9.
Came across a man who had Monster Quest 3 series. 5 Unine Hodes, 2 Tocos Orluga, 1 Pelargos Ekidno. We took all these quests. He said Lady Melia doesn't show her face in public and wears a mask instead. Things got complicated when she tried to comfort a crying child who was scared of her mask.
We ran along the big circular track. It was long and round and dull. We met many people though, including younger Alcamoth citizens.
We met a lady whose husband died while serving Melia. Aw :(
The lady next to her wanted 3 lots of Gold Burdock. We agreed to get some for her. She was hungry and wanted some good food.
We came across two bridges that looked like chain links. They were long and boring too. We met Mir'leiz on the southwestern one. He wanted to join the empirical guard or whatever, just like his dad, to the worry of his mother. He came up as "Hates yet admires his dad." Aw.
Continuing on the circle, we met a woman named Vidian, who was down and out about men. She came up as "Puts friends first".
We met a trio of friends further along the circle, who liked to gather together everyday and talk about silly things, just to be friends. That's really nice :)
Dear Readers,
We came across vehicles in Alcomoth. In the northern part, there was one that was moving like a tram along a path in the shape of a circle. We chased it for fun until it made a quarter circle, then it turned back and did the same thing. It was fun!
Meanwhile we were passing someone who was despairing out loud. "What will become of us all?" they said while we had fun running around.
This is how I'm having fun in this game now :) goofing off while NPCs despair.
Dear Readers,
We went outside at daytime to explore Melfica Road and mingle a bit too.
There were vehicles flying around. One guard said it made people feel uneasy, even though it was for their protection.
Another guard told us about Skill Link and... whew I don't want to go into this complication right now. I do need to do something with that menu because one branch or whatever was filled. I need to take it slow and read up on it all.
A citizen asked us to collect 5 Orluga Grass Skirts from Orluga in Makna Forest for her dancing costume. We agreed to get them for her.
Someone named Merisa was standing by a plant and we almost missed her. She was worried about her child it seems. She came up as Kindly Mother in the chart. She mentioned her husband was killed in action sadly.
Lady Melia had a big fan who hadn't seen her face since she was young, so it looks like she doesn't make big public appearances.
There was a Nopon here! He spoke of Kaleka being very talented with his hands and paws and that he knew a lot about stars.
We came across a couple of transporters but they glowed red, which probably meant they weren't usable right now. There was also another blue glowing thing near where Merisa was that we had no idea what to do with. We might find out soon.
Gonna take a break from exploring to end this entry. This area we just explored was the path going to the north from the Imperial Palace doors. We kind of hugged the walls so we haven't explored this place fully yet. More exploring next time.
Dear Readers,
We continued in the great hall at night.
A guard at the top of the stairs had a quest for us to defeat 3 Somati Kromars on Soltnar Seal Island. It was top secret and time limted. We agreed to it. This turned into more. 4 Tussock Kromars and 5 Otol Kromars were added to this series of time-limited quests. We agreed to defeat them for him.
It seems this guard had a crush on Ma'crish as well. He got all embarrassed too! How sweet!
Another guard spoke of a mysterious place south east of Eryth Sea. Might have a look later.
We took a look at our prison/resting quarters and it looked really pretty at night with the falling stars outside. The lights were on and there were no beds though, just these weird hotel room conference chairs.
Ok that's the Great Hall covered for now I hope.
Dear Readers,
I decided to mingle in the great hall of the imperial palace at night. The night-time version of the music is lovely and lulling with some gentler chanting.
A guard spoke of Talonyth, a beloved chef here. Another encouraged trading items, saying that it could fill in that one collectopaedia entry you're missing in a page. I've been having this exact problem! I've skipped trading until now. Maybe I should. He suggested trading with Lecrough and Caul.
Another guard spoke about rumours of someone walking around with a black mask at night. Strange.
More people admiring statues too, saying there was an old religion that excluded people if you weren't a believer. Doesn't happen anymore though.
Galdo was by the stairs this time and he was worrying about someone who injured their back. Galvin maybe?
At the opposite staircase Lar'shen was complaining about his back. Mystery solved! He came up as "Pushes himself too far" in the chart.
We went back to Galdo now that we were familiar with the back pain dilemma and we agreed to defeat 6 Archer Hodes in another time-limited quest.
More night time mingling here next time.
Dear Readers,
We're still in the Great Hall of the Imperial Palace. We tried going to Melia's private quarters, but there was no access.
We then tried the corridor opposite this one but there was nothing at the end, only a silver ring. It was a glowing red item so no doubt it'll be important soon.
This corridor also had a transporter that led to our prison room. It was kinda amusing how they were ordered to accommodate us for rest when there's only a long table and chairs in there.
After that, I had mapped out the Great Hall. I'm glad because the place is so big I feel lost and vulnerable with all these time-limited quests too.
Dear Readers,
After Alvis left, an imperial guard rushed in, telling us something bad happened outside of the city with one of the transporters and some people were in danger. We offered to help.
This came up as a story quest.
We left the room out into the huge area we were before and saw more people with exclamation marks over their heads. Here we go...
An Alcomoth Citizen wanted to make a musical instrument and wanted materials. We agreed to collect 2 Lexos Beards from Racti Lexos at Eryth Sea. This was also a time-limited quest, which makes my headache even bigger.
Another citizen was doing a monster ecology study but was feeling overwhelmed. I know how she feels. We agreed to defeat 5 Cruz Paguls at Eryth Sea for her. This was also time-limited and there were more of them. She also wanted to defeat 3 Eryth Ansels and 2 Ciconia Ekidnos. Both time-limited as well.
Yikes with all the time-limited quests. Does something bad happen here soon I wonder?
Someone named Ma'crish was on the steps and spoke about how we should respect everyone's culture. She came up as an advocate of equality.
I now need to get to know a new people, the High Entia. They're like Homs but they have wings on the sides of their heads.
Dear Readers,
The prison we were in had a lovely view of the world around us. It also had a really long table and chairs. No one was standing up though. It was like being told to wait in a fancy hotel conference room.
I was able to speak with everyone individually. They were all puzzled. Well, it was mostly Reyn that was puzzled. Dunban said they were probably being cautious to keep us here for the time being.
The guards came and Alvis was with them. He was the one that was going to interrogate us. I told him our story and he explained that the Monado was the reason why we were kept here.
I had more questions for him but he said to be patient and I would find out what I wanted to know soon, whatever that meant.
He then ordered us to be set free to roam the city and to use this room to rest before heading away.
Dear Readers,
Before the focus went back to Shulk and the others, I went to the audience chamber as Melia and a scene played out where her father and her brother and another character whose names I haven't learned welcomed and congratulated her on the defeat of the Telethia.
They gave advice about grieving the soldiers who lost their lives fighting the creature and they all sounded very royal and diplomatic. They also said the rest of our group were arrested because of the Monado. Melia was confused and upset about this.
They went on to explain about the legend of the Monado and how if it fell in to the wrong hands it could be harmful to their race, the High Entia. They wanted to interrogate everyone to ensure we were pure of heart, especially the one wielding the Monado. They wanted to know if I, Shulk was the chosen one.
When the perspective shifted back to the group, it didn't look like we were in a cage. This prison was all windows, spacious and had a grand view. I was now Shulk again.
Dear Readers,
We arrived at the gate of the city when some soldiers appered and knelt in front of Melia, calling her Lady Melia, revealing something very significant to the group about her.
She gave them some orders to accommodate us, asked us to wait, and left to report about the telethia and ask for access to Prison Island.
Suddenly, the focus shifted to Melia entirely! I continued as Melia, into the Imperial Palace of Alcamoth. It was enormous and had lovely chanting and chiming music. I didn't really stick around to chat with anyone wandering around and the heart to heart spots here weren't accessible of course.
I immediately got lost and had to go back to the centre of where all the paths split. I found where I was going by ascending some huge staircase. I met a man named Donnis who was very happy and relieved to see me. He came up on the affinity chart as a patriotic imperial guard.
I had to zoom out on the chart to find him. He was on the very bottom right corner of the chart! There's an entire right half of this thing that's otherwise completely blank. There are many many more hours of this game to get through, unfortunately.
There was also a scene with two wicked looking characters that seemed to be plotting against the royal family or whatever. Dun dun dun etc.
Dear Readers,
I may have saved too soon. I have no idea how to go back to the previous area. We came up through the sea, right? Not sure how to get back so might as well press on.
We went up to the transporter Melia told us about and it took us to a new area. I collected an item there that gave me a vision of Riki collecting another one. It was a white tail. He wanted to use them as pillows for sleeping.
What followed was a series of transporters across floating islands called hovering reefs to pass through. There was a heart to heart here for Riki and Sharla but it was still too early. We continued until we got to the centre gate.
Dear Readers,
There was a tour guide at the top of the tree. She made a column of water and a big spherical thing come out of the water and told us it would take us to Eryth Sea. We all got in, though poor Reyn was reluctant. He got in shortly after us though.
We found ourselves on a beach at Eryth Sea. Melia showed us where Prison Island was. It was big, tall, dark and floating in the sky. She then showed us the floating city of Alcamoth, where we had to go to obtain permission to go to Eryth Sea.
I asked Melia if she was curious as to why we were going there and she said she wasn't going to pry. Reyn said she was dying to know and she said "how dare you!" Melia was a very proper and polite lady. She admitted she was interested as no Homs would really go to a place like Prison Island. I told her the story about how the Mechon attacked us. She was understanding.
The area's music was a gentle tune.
Melia said we could go to the city via a transporter not too far away.
Dear Readers,
We returned to the village after defeating the Telethia, where Riki got a hero's welcome. We let him have his glory. He did make a difference, even though I have no clue what it was. These guys are supposed to be strong as well as cute after all so I won't doubt it.
The chief Dunga said Riki's debt was repaid, but his littlepons ate a lot while he was gone, so he announced Riki was going to continue adventuring and fighting side by side with us. Riki wasn't too pleased!
Riki then introduced his wife and huge family to us, which made us raise an eyebrow. I asked him how old he was and he said he was 40. He was going to support his family by joining us and they'd be taken care of by the village. That was the plan.
Melia asked Dunga if he could allow us passage to Eryth Sea and he gladly granted it. She told us to meet up with her above when we were ready. Finally, some progress!
Dear Readers,
We finally beat the Telethia! The major change I made was having Melia and Riki in the party. I've had Melia there before, but I never had Riki there. If that made all the difference I'm not 100% sure how it did.
I tried other strategies like deflecting the aggro from myself and using backslash on its actual back. I'm not familiar with Riki or Melia's moves so one or both of them made a big difference.
When we defeated it, a dramatic cutscene played where everyone joined in to attack it.
Afterwards, Melia thanked us and we patted each other on the back in congratulations. There was some weird explanation where it was being filled with energy and that's what done it in but I didn't fully grasp it at all. Who cares though! Time to move on!
Dear Readers,
We haven't faced the Telethia in quite a while, so I decided to try it out again.
We got our butts handed to us again haha.
However, I saved at just before the fight and loaded it so I don't have to traipse all the way there again past huge creatures.
Dear Readers,
The Frontier Village of the Nopon had a very small collectopaedia page and we collected everything there.
This time, Riki and Melia had a go each of naming things.
Dear Readers,
Just like one of the previous pages, we were only missing one thing from Makna Forest. Not sure what it is yet.
The princess daffodil has an odd name. I thought daffodil was a masculine name?
The venomous lizard entry says it just looks like a venomous lizard. Doesn't say otherwise if it really is. I guess it's one to avoid anyway.
Dunban and Sharla tried naming things in the strange section.
