Legend of Legaia - Part 12 - What a Load of Bull

 

Welcome back to more Legend of Legaia.  Last time, we explored the city of Octam, and found another Octam underneath!  Today, we are going to explore this Octam and finally meet with Hari.

The first thing we’ll be seeing as we enter the city is an inn.  And in this inn is also an item and equipment shop.

 

 

The equipment shop has a lot of brand new stuff for all our party members.  They’re also quite expensive, so buy whatever you can.

 

The item shop has new elemental jewels for sale.  As we’ve seen before, the other jewels raises an elemental resistance on a party member, so we got Madlight Jewel (raises elec resistance), Luminous Jewel (raises light resistance), and Ebony Jewel (raises dark resistance).  A good number of bosses in later areas are gonna be dark elemental, so if you had to pick one of these new jewels, go for the Ebony Jewel.  Note that this shop also sells Phoenixes.

 

Also, check the basement of the inn for a hidden Door of Wind in the cupboard.

 

As we talk to the people in the city, we learn that they have their own share of problems, despite having escaped from the mist.  But rather than explaining it myself... I’ll explain it through this cutscene.

 

As we look around, we’re stopped by an earthquake.  We see people desperately running away from a nearby house.

noa this isn't the time to T-pose

 

While they barely escape, the ground supporting the house sinks into the deep abyss.  The people managed to escape the mist, but they have to deal with these earthquakes destroying their city on a daily basis.

 

A kid nearby tells us that he can take us to see Hari.  We can follow him to there… but I’d like to explore a bit more.  There’s a big mansion closeby, so let’s check this out.

 

We can talk to some people here-

Okay fine geeze.  We’ll explore this place later I guess.

 

We follow the kid and find Hari’s place.  However, it seems we can’t talk to him just yet.  We might as well check inside.

 

STAY AWAY FROM THE SUMMONER

Inside the house, we find some stairs going down.  As we follow the stairs downward, we find a room with three babies.  It turns out that these three babies are Hari!  Well… I didn’t expect that.

Now, back to exploring the mansion.

 

We can loot the barrel here on the top floor for a Magic Water.  Also on the top floor is the mayor.

 

He seems really self-depreciative, as he keeps calling himself useless, while laughing it off at the same time.  I think he broke somewhere down the line… He mentions that Octam has been dangerous due to the recent earthquakes, but as we talk, we hear someone bearing news about Hari.

 

not shown here: Vahn knocked out from guard slamming into him

A guard crashes into Vahn and informs the mayor and everyone that Hari is finally awake.  This seems like good news: there’s been a lot of buildup to our meeting with this baby prophet, so let’s go check it out.

 

We reach Hari’s house, and from the sounds of it, Hari wants to speak specifically to our heroes.  Let’s head down and see.  A lady nearby explains that the 3 Haris represent the past, present and future.

We speak to the Hari of the past, and the baby floats in front of us (that is a phrase I did not expect to be funny to type out), and he begins his speech:

send this to your friends with no context

 

“The start of your journey is the inevitability of time that connects the past to the present!  The interrelation among the Mist, Seru, and Ra-Seru is part of the inevitability of time.  Beyond the world in which we live is the home of the Seru, the Seru-kai.  All Seru in the human world are born of the Seru-kai.  Human world and Seru-kai are indivisible, but the two worlds are destined to remain apart.  However an unfortunate accident allowed the Seru to enter the human world.  Mankind learned of the Seru’s power and built civilization.  But people depended on the Seru too much, and it warped the human spirit, leading to great tragedy.  At the heart of the Mist is a demon!  Even through Rem’s eyes its true nature is unclear.  This demon, neither human nor Seru, used the Mist to destroy the world!  It is no coincidence that you have been chosen by the Ra-Seru!”

A lot of stuff we’ve learned from the opening prologue.  Though, from that prologue, I got the impression that the seru was created as a god’s act of mercy onto humanity, rather than seru and human intentionally separate from each other.  Again, we still have a lot of questions unanswered… We talk to the Hari of the present, and he begins his speech:

 

“The Mist’s henchmen are in the last stage.  They plan to destroy the world completely!  They are now tenaciously pursuing us – who have barely survived the Mist’s attack.  They are now raising an army to kill legions or turn them into Seru monsters!  Deep below Octam, at the bottom of the Fire Path, are their henchmen!  Vahn, Noa, Gala!  Use the power of your holy Seru to destroy the demon’s henchmen!  That is the only way to save this town from danger!  The only way to save the world from imminent destruction is to save each individual life!”

This message’s a bit more straightforward.  Monsters of the mist seem to be attacking from below the city.  That’s where we’ll need to head to next.  Also… that last line.  Keep that in mind for later.

 

We speak to Hari of the future, and he speaks:

“Unfortunately, the shadow of the Mist also covers the future.  Even with the divine powers of Rem it is not possible to see into the future.  I can tell you this only.  Listen well.

Vahn, a horrible tragedy will shatter your hopes.

Noa, your parents are still alive!  They are in Conkram, in Karisto Kingdom!  If you go to Conkram, Noa, you will see your parents!  But beware!  Seeing them will disturb you greatly.

And you, Gala!  In Songi you will find a nightmare awaiting.  Remember: Songi is your shadow – your alter ego.

Viewed as part of the flow of time, tragedy and salvation are two sides of the same coin.  You yourselves may pull the trigger and cause nightmares to happen.  But as long as there is hope, the deep, swift flow of the river of time may fulfill your hopes.”

Noa seems excited to have learned that her parents are still alive, while Gala is left reflecting on what Hari meant about Songi.  As for Vahn’s future… a horrible tragedy?  That does not sound uplifting at all.  Well, as long as it’s nothing related to The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event In Human History, I think we’ll be fine…

 

Well, that was a lot to digest.  As we leave, the mayor sees us and praises us for taking down the monsters in Fire Road.  Well, we didn’t really sign up for this to begin with… but there’s certainly trouble going on down there, so we should check it out.

We leave Hari’s house, but we stop shortly as another earthquake occurs.

 

 

 

This time, it’s targeted Hari’s house!  Our heroes barely make it out as the bridge connecting to the house crumbles, but all they can do is watch as the deep darkness engulfs the house, along with Hari.  And the priestesses inside.  So much for saving individual lives.

Hari is dead.  But from the depths, our heroes see balls of light rise up.  It’s the spirits of Hari, and leave our heroes with this message:

“Vahn, Noa, Gala.  I knew that the earth would swallow us up.  Everything that happens is predestined in the heart of Rem, god of time.  But, brave Ra-Seru heroes!  You must not forget the mission with which you have been entrusted!  The Hari of the Present ordered you to first head to the Fire Path.  Destroy the henchmen of the Mist who have brought calamity to Octam.  That will open the door to a new future for you.  The three faces of Rem are watching over you.  We will meet again some day, at an unexpected place.  Fight with all your strength!  The power of the Genesis Trees is with you!”

With that, the spirits leave, and we are left with the task of stopping the seru underneath Octam.

 

By heading to the west side, a guard once blocking the way allows us to pass through.  Let’s head into the Fire Road.

 

The Fire Road does bring up some memories, let me tell ya.  I remember being stuck here for a while.  There’s an upcoming boss here that’s rather infamous, but more on that later.  We got some monsters to deal with.

Warman and Mush Mush return in this dungeon, but we got some new foes: this Gel Frog for example. 

brown monsters on brown background - good

 

Well, I say new, but it’s much like the frog we’ve encountered before, only it hits a bit harder.  An actual new monster we’ll be encountering is the Stone Lizard.  More a stone turtle, or rather… turtles are technically lizards.  Anyway, I’m getting off track; this monster is slow, but can hit pretty hard.  It also has quite a bit of HP to deal with.

The Fire Road descends deeper underneath the underground Octam.

 

Here, we can see the pillars that support the city… as well as the victims of the earthquake.  We only see the fallen house, but it’s kinda a grim scene we have here.

 

Heading deeper into the Fire Road, the mist starts to cover the area.  Nova will return as an enemy we’ll face, by the way.  If you haven’t captured that seru, this is also a good place to do so.  Some pillars at this point will have openings you can enter, so be sure to check them out.

 

One opening leads us to a new weapon for Gala: the Gala Mace.  Yes, much like the others, you can rename Gala and this weapon would change its name- you know what, I’m not gonna use this same joke for the third time.

 

As we head deeper, there’s a save point for us to save your progress.  Yup, something big is coming.  We follow the narrow path to find a cavern area filled with magma.

 

I’m pretty sure it’s magma and not lava, as Gala says.  There seems to be no other way around, but Noa decides to jump on one platform and finds we can use it to travel across the fiery pits.

noa seems to be enjoying it, as usual

 

In this area, we can encounter another seru: Gola Gola.

snek

 

This seru is another fire elemental, and can hit hard with some attacks.  This is also another good chance to capture this seru.  Also, I think this area only spawns this enemy here.

As we ride the platform, we’ll head onto a large, safe land.  At this point, if you have been exploring the area and finding treasure, I would highly suggest using a Door of Light, rest up at the inn, and come back here.  You’ve most likely used up some magic or healing items or whatnot, and you want to come into this next boss fight in a healthy state.

We walk forward and find the culprit of the earthquakes:

 

a giant minotaur like monster wearing a seru.  We approach the boss, but he doesn’t seem to notice us. 

 

He seems rather focused on the task at hand.  We try talking to him again, and he still hasn’t budged from his position.  We try talking to him for a third time, and finally he turns his attention to us.

 

He takes a look at us and realizes that we have ra-seru, and therefore, are the enemy.  Though, we can trick him and say we’re not the enemy, and he continues with his task.

 

This guy’s not very smart, is he?

strong as an ox... and about as smart as one too

 

However, we do need to pick a fight with this guy, so we need to answer yes.  Realizing who he’s been talking to, our foe preps himself for a fight!

 

Xain is a tough boss.  He doesn’t have any gimmicks like Berserker’s status inflicting moves, but this boss – plain and simple – hits hard.  Orb magic is highly recommended for this fight, as that will heal all party members.  Xain is also earth elemental, so bringing an Earth Jewel is a good idea, especially for Noa who’s naturally weak to earth attacks.

Xain’s regular attacks aren’t much to write home about, but the main concerns are his special attacks.  Bloody Horns deals a lot of damage to one party member.

 

Gala is our party’s tank, and Xain managed to deal almost 600 damage to him!  He could easily 2-shot him like that!  His most dangerous attack though is Terio Punch, a planet-shattering attack that deals heavy damage to everyone.

no seriously, he shatters a planet to deal damage to everyone

 

If you have not learned that spiriting up raises defenses, you will easily be walled by this boss because of this devastating attack.  Fortunately, like Zeto’s Big Wave attack, Xain telegraphs this with Bull Charge.  That will be your cue to spirit everyone up.

Since Xain is earth elemental, wind based attacks will do great against him.  Nova’s a good magic to use for this boss.

I managed to hit the 1000 damage threshold :O

 

And while Xain can do heavy damage against Noa, the other way around is true; Noa can do heavy damage against Xain.  I started off the battle with Swordie so I can get a speed debuff on him.  While I could’ve used Nova to do the same thing, Swordie was much higher leveled so its debuff would be more effective.  For the most part with this fight, it’s all about doing as much damage as you can, while spiriting up for Terio Punch and healing up with Orb right after.  Xain gave me much trouble when I first played this game, but now I feel a lot more in control in this fight.  I’d say I’m a lot better at video games than my 9 year old self!

Once we do enough damage to the bull, he finally falls, and the seru detaches itself from the body.

strange choice of words, but okay

 

It seems that Xain will die soon, but he has decided to leave us with a parting gift.  With the last of his strength, Xain freezes the entire magma cave, turning everything to ice!

 

Our heroes are still fine, but why has Xain gone through such measure to do something like that?  Regardless, the monster threatening Octam is dealt with, so let’s head back.

But before that… how are you holding up?  Is everyone’s HP and MP doing fine?  I ask this because now that Xain is gone, we can now explore this frozen cave.  There’s a lot of treasure around here, as well as a new seru to encounter.  If you aren’t doing so hot, then head back to Octam and rest up; you can return back here whenever you want, but it is a bit of a hike from Octam to here.

Also: remember that we got a Wind Book II for defeating Xain, so give that to Noa to teach her a new Hyper Art.

 

If we go past where Xain was blocking us, we can find a treasure chest containing Guardian Chain.  This accessory does not do what you’d expect, judging from its name: it nullifies all blocking on the wearer and their target.  Having enemies block your attack constantly is pretty annoying, so to nullify that seems nice, but I don’t think it’s worth sacrificing your own block rate.  Besides, if I really want to increase my hit rate, I’d give myself a Target Chain instead.

There’s another route before fighting Xain we could’ve gotten before that boss fight.

 

If we follow that path to the end, we’ll find a Life Water.  As the magma has cooled, we can travel across it and find another treasure chest here.

 

This one contains an Incense, an item that reduces encounter rate for a period of time.  A pretty uncommon item for the time being, let’s hold onto this one for a while.

You’ll notice that the Gola Gola seru is gone if you start encountering enemies, and instead we’ll be finding this new seru: Freed.

 

It’s a water based seru, so its water based attacks will do quite a bit of damage on Vahn, so be careful of that.  Make sure to equip an Ivory Book if you wanna capture this seru, as its catch rate is pretty low.

When you’ve done exploring or need to rest up, head back to Octam.

 

The soldier nearby will greet our heroes and congratulate them for stopping the cause of the earthquake.  However, the soldier also notices the place getting colder.  And I think we’ll see what happened due to that next time.  Until then, see ya!