Wild Arms 3 Part 29: Volatile Dreams

If you came here for Wild Arms 3, you are in the right place! And the right date is November 14, Name Brand Day. When I was pondering what’s the most famous brand on Filgaia, Roykman’s face popped up into my head… Is he considered a brand, though?

Previously on Wild Arms 3: Maya and Virginia worked together to conquer a survey point that had a surprisingly high number of cooperative puzzles. Why either team of four couldn’t just solve these puzzles built for two “alone” is anybody’s guess.

And we beat back noted prophet Malik twice, so now it is a clear shot to the precious gems that we came here for.

… Well, technically we were just hired to chase Maya out… But… ya know…

Oh, here’s Maya now. Yes, sorry, it took a week.

Look lovely tonight?

Let’s rock(s).

“And we just fought two boss battles that totaled six different monsters! Can we take a break?”

Again with the whacky courtship maneuvers.

I would be genuinely curious to see what the rest of the men standing around think about all this. Like, even if she is a little weird, is Clive just happy Virginia has found someone?

Virginia knows she is going to beat them, right? And doesn’t want to hurt Maya or her friends? Do you figure Maya knows she is going to lose, too? But just wants to give her girlfriend a win?

Literacy starts the battle!

New Maya morph! Now we can produce three Maya amiibos!

They did not need to go this far for this model that appears, like, twice.

So another Schrödinger family fight.

This is our third battle with this foursome, and, once again, all the support family members behave exactly the same (give or take being more powerful to match current levels). Your first move is always to light Todd up like a candle.

Maya is the only one with new attacks, and she is a completely different animal from her previous appearances. Fighting Artist Maya is the opposite of her witch form: entirely physical-based, and will hit one character for significant damage. Not a “1 hit kill” situation, but still something to watch out for.

Everybody else is just as boring as ever.

As before, Todd will heal Maya and her brother as long as he is active, so take his flaming afro out first.

Maya’s moves are mostly borrowed from the moveset of Kanon of Wild Arms 2. Kanon was more cyborg than martial artist, but it is nice to see her abilities getting referenced by a (generally) friendly character.

Anywho, aside from maybe tossing up some anti-physical buffs, there is not much to this fight. More or less your concern should be still having the stamina after two other boss fights.

Also, I believe this is another fight where you only must defeat Maya to win (though Todd is a technical requirement, as you are unlikely to be able to outpace his counter-healing).

The ladies are spent.

It’s good cardio, evidently.

Just need a minute here…

You know, there just might be a metaphor here for Maya pressuring Virginia to “sparkle” and… Oh, I’m probably seeing too much into it.

Don’t ever lie to yourself about “what you love most”.

“Never could have whipped out my pole back in those days.”

“There was this golem, and… Oh. Right. You were there.”

This time? When have we ever lost to you?

Success!

Respect! Success!

Ha ha, “when the time comes”. The time for what?

I feel like it is the blinking on both sides that really sells this calamity.

Virginia tosses the explosive rocks, and it is time to go.

So! This dungeon isn’t done yet! We’ve got 15 minutes to dash backwards through Survey Point #18. Welcome to Wild Arms 3’s first countdown challenge!

15 minutes is a while, and, honestly, there isn’t much to worry about here. All the puzzles are already solved, and, while there are pits, we are well past the point in Wild Arms 3 where you should have trouble walking.

Battles do continue, though.

If you’re curious, the timer does not tick down while you spend time on menus. You only have to worry about when you are actively moving. This fact will be super important during the final Wild Arms 3 countdown challenge…

Battles are similar. The timer will wait while you make selections on what to actually do during a fight, and it will only resume once your characters start carrying out commands. None of these fights are hard, but you may have noticed in the last update that a lot of these battles can be slow. The hand monsters reduce accuracy, and the pill bugs appear in large groups. Either situation may make the battle go longer than usual, so you may want to be generous with canceling encounters altogether.

Regardless, you are unlikely to have any difficulty with this generous timer. We are at the exit, and that screenshot indicates we took a whole two minutes to get here.

And no matter what was on the clock, it is implied you just made it.

“Okay, so, funny story…”

“So, wait, you two aren’t dating?”
“Well, it is heavily implied.”

“In all fairness, you probably should have told us about the whole comburent rocks thing.”

Hooray! We don’t have to fill out any insurance claims!

“You’re such a nice guy! We are going to feel so bad when we’re responsible for your death.”
“What?”

“Never mind!”

Yes, Survey Point #18 was completely obliterated. That is why there were no treasure chests in the dungeon: you can never return, so it would be kind of mean to tie a game-long sidequest to an area with limited availability.

“Aw, you really are a nice guy! We are going to feel so bad when we’re responsible for your death.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”

“You are all faithful, trustworthy , and foremost, full of energy…An ideal team of Drifters!”

“W-We are…?”

You are the most important people on this planet! Appointed by literal gods! Take the compliment!

Oh, great. Now we get back to story time.

“Everybody made fun of my gorgeous hair ribbons.”

And ten years ago, you say? Why does that feel relevant…

“I had lost all sense of time or day, and in an unconscious stupor, I found myself in front of a large tree. But looking back now, that was probably not a big tree…This was where I came into contact with various artifacts, sources of past wisdom, and many documentary records. These are what helped me found this Order.”

A big tree, eh? Boy, have I been there…

Ah yes. The little dream girl. Perfectly normal thing to have happen. Happens to Gallows’s brother all the time.

“You got directions back to the only tree in Filgaia?”

“Founded a techno-future cult yada yada yada now I have a yellow ribbon, too.”

“Oh, did I not note that I tamed and rode a dinosaur? I always forget to mention that part.”

“After being blessed with the artifacts and the knowledge, I was found semiconscious in a village called Boot Hill.”

“(Boot Hill!? That’s my hometown!)”

What a coincidence!

“I keep thinking it’s a pun on ‘booting up the game,’ but that would be silly.”

“Apparently, I was found lying unconscious by the foot of the entrance. Thanks to the friendly villagers who nursed me back to health, I soon left the village in search of the ruins. Yes…It was the excavation of this very Ark of Destiny. After that, I gave up on being a Drifter, and guided by the Saint, I started this Order. The rest is history…”

I love how in his first meeting, Lamium is all about reason and science and whatever. And now his secret origin is that he found a magical tree in the desert, passed out at a random town, is guided by a dream girl, and is continually finding ancient tech thanks to mystical visions. All seems pretty logical!

And that’s coming from the kid with amnesia!

Unfortunately, Lamium lost his map back to the tree. Maybe it is within walking distance of Boot Hill? Maybe not?

But apparently it was a nice place.

Good question!

“But one thing for certain is that this incident was reality. As you can see, I have excavated the Immigrant Ship, and I am leading this Order as we speak…”

Just because your current reality isn’t a dream doesn’t mean you cannot have had a dream in the past. Or… something.

“No big. Figured we had to hear your backstory at some point.”

Hooray! More plot dumping!

Unfortunately, we do not get another job at this time. Seems that blowing up our last mission is something of a black mark on the ol’ résumé.

So we haven’t distinctly said it yet, but the NPCs are making it obvious our next destination is Boot Hill.

Did… did you dream about us? You legally have to tell us if you did.

So now we can access the library. Previously, this was the only blocked area in the place.

… Well, room not blocked by a tool of some kind.

Aw, there’s even a little reading table there.

“The religious order, the Ark of Destiny, headed by its founder Lamium, has only been in existence for about ten years. Its new ideals, activities, and ways of life are geared towards the goal of pursuing a future. The doctrine does not look to intangible, spirituals entities. It is applying yourself as a life-form of this planet, and what we must do to live strongly. Each one of us plays a leading role in this doctrine through our actions. We hope you will join us today, to help us find a tomorrow.”

… They let us in the library just so we could read their damn pamphlets…

“The Order of the Ark of Destiny challenges us to find the path of living. We must consider what we live for here on this unforgiving world of Filgaia. We must become strong, and to help foster strength, we pursue various methods of bolstering our own fortitude. One of these projects is the excavation of ruins. We feel that proper use of relics of the past will help lead us to a better future. We attribute this to the roots of our founder Lamium, who was a Drifter before he formed the Order. In his travels through the wasteland, he discovered that in order to support great ideals, other powers are necessary. We must take the powers responsible for the ravaging of our world and blaze a new trail with them. We, the Order of the Ark of Destiny, scour the vast wasteland for ways to bring about a bright future for all.”

You know, I would enjoy a story about a JRPG world filled with adventurers, and then some enterprising charlatan starts a cult exploiting the fact that every idiot that traipses through a dungeon thinks they are the chosen one…

“The friction of the sand combined with menacing monsters has sent countless ships and the people on them to a sandy grave. Indeed, the crossing of the dunes is something that comes with a great deal of risk. This leads us to the reason why we, the Order of the Ark of Destiny, constructed our temple complex here on Yard Isle. This region used to be ignominiously known as the Ships’ Graveyard due to the high number of wrecked hulls that washed ashore. But one day, the island’s history charted a new course when a Drifter discovered a new ship in the wreckage. You see, the ship he found was one of the kind that our distant ancestors referred to as a soaring ship. With this crystal of ancient wisdom at his fingertips, he set off on a mission to save the planet. That Drifter was our founder, Lamium, ten years ago. And the soaring ship was converted into the Order’s temple, becoming the center of all its activities. A new ship is about to launch from the island once known as a graveyard. The future of Filgaia is tied to the place where the Order of the Ark of Destiny was founded.”

The Ships’ Graveyard is a recurring location in Wild Arms titles that is… exactly what it is named. It is nice to see that, while it is not a “real” dungeon/location in Wild Arms 3, it is still a thing.

Now we’ve hit the jackpot.

Yggdrasil? Wasn’t that a mythical big tree? I feel like I heard about something like that recently.

Drum roll, please.

“The last seven council members…Yes, here it is. This was ten years ago…Leehalt Alcaste, Werner Maxwell, Pete Inkapilia, Elliot Enduro, Malik Bendict, Melody Vilente. And… Duran Bryant.”

This list was mentioned earlier in the Let’s Play, and, yes, it is the only time we get any further mention of Pete Inkapilia.

So this all but confirms the validity of Virginia’s daddy photo, and…

Yes, we have been fighting a healthy 42% of the former council.

I like that Clive distinctly notes “or recreate”. He will 100% not be surprised if they are robots or something.

“And not just because I ran out of clean laundry.”

“(Elliot Enduro, a member of the Council of Seven…He has the same last name as mine…Is that just a coincidence?)”

Oh, probably. Probably also a coincidence that you now know you were raised by another member of the Council of Seven. Just big ol’ fluke all the way down.

“Does Jetty Wetty have a rumbly in his tummy?”

Nobody else notes that Jet has the same last name as Elliot… though there are good odds Jet has never mentioned he even has a last name…

“All these weird shapes in those papery things.”
“Are you afraid of books, Jet?”

“The seven members of the Council of Seven have been selected for this term. They are as follows: Environmental Alteration Team: Werner Maxwell, Leehalt Alcaste, and Melody Vilente. These members will be responsible for researching ways to use the leyline energy effectively. Life Creation Team: Pete Inkipilia, Elliot Enduro, and Malik Bendict. These members will be responsible for researching the leyline structure in order to revive the planet’s life force. Maintenance Controller: Duran Bryant. He will be responsible for maintaining the facility and its machinery. We hope that these seven geniuses of the Council of Seven will restore Filgaia back to its verdure.”

You can “reread” the Council of Seven book, and find that Clive left out all the good parts. Looks like Werner, Leehalt, and Melody were all distinctly on the same team (which makes Melody not noting Werner back at the golem battle kind of suspect). Pete, Elliot, and Malik were all working on “life creation”, which Malik seems to be continuing with his tube girl (and I am sure there is no connection between the boy with no memories who gets sick looking at lab equipment and the scientist with the same last name working on “life creation”). And Duran is distinctly the mechanic of the group. Worth remembering that we found Duran’s journal, and he was apparently talking to a dream girl, too.

“Seven experts, specializing in science, magic, and various other fields…At times, they were referred to as ‘The Rainbow.’ They were the Council of Seven, which researched ways to rejuvenate Filgaia over many decades. This research first began when the first group of seven came into contact with the information library Hyades, left behind by the demons. The members of the council were interchanged depending on the direction of the research, or with changes of the time. Many different phenomena were solved due to their work. The countless hours and efforts put in by these specialists to analyze Hyades is finally about to pay off. The environmental rejuvenation, planetary energy production and supply–all of this was a vision every council member shared. The seven colors of ‘The Rainbow’ will soon change into a single ray of hope.”

I’m sorry? We could ditch the “Prophets” moniker, and call these goons “The Rainbow”? Leehalt needs a lesson in branding.

This is a duplicator-sealed book. I understand that kind of thing happening in a lawless town or dungeon, but why wouldn’t someone have already unlocked this book here in a freaking library?

“Nidhogg is a greedy evil serpent. It heads to the grove with its jaws wide open, looking for prey. Nidhogg is a greedy evil serpent. Darker than the night, its jaws belong to two heads, acting as one. Nidhogg is a greedy evil serpent. Two giants wield their swords to exterminate the evil serpent. One of the giants heads to the forest with good intentions. One of the giants heads to the forest with evil intentions. However, neither of the two giants knew there were now two Nidhoggs. By knowing there are two Nidhoggs, one can infiltrate the core. Nidhoggs are greedy evil serpents. They head to the grove with their jaws wide open, looking for prey. These two giants were never to be seen again.”

This is a clue to a mandatory quest that will appear a little further along in the plot. It is also a wholly useless clue, so, once again, sealing this information behind a duplicator is awful.

“Most of the excavation sites operated by the Ark of Destiny are ordered by the founder, Lamium himself. The founder possesses a special ability, through which he can locate excavation points. According to the founder, this is not his personal ability, but a form of divine revelation. He claims that a girl appears in his dreams, informing him of the location of undiscovered ruins. This goes against the Order’s principle of reality over ideals in terms of taking action. But the fact of the matter is, many rare artifacts have been excavated as a direct result of the founder’s dreams. Could this simply be explained as a miracle? What does this Saint, the girl that appears in the founder’s dreams wish to entrust us with, and where does she wish to lead us? If the Saint wishes to guide us to the future, let us walk there on our own two feet. That is the way of the Order’s doctrine.”

Seems like the cult isn’t a big fan of its patron dream girl.

“The demons from folklore may have physically disappeared from the planet, but their malice is said to live on within the earth, devouring the planet. This demon’s threat is said to exist in the form of shields. Some even theorize that these shields are actually transformed demon corpses. Once the shields are activated, they are said to devour any surrounding life-forms, and transfigure their bodily structure. It is believed that monsters that roam Filgaia today are the direct result of these shields, which affected life-forms during the great war. If these shields still exist today, they may bring about a new threat. Even after a thousand years, are we still unable to escape the threat of the evil corpses?”

Wait. Hold up. Those secret shields from the first chapter can mutate lifeforms into demons? And we had one in our pocket for a solid dungeon or two? And nobody told us to wear gloves? Also: since she was the first to find one, is this the reason Maya is so… Maya?

Welp, that’s it for the library. We can’t reach those books on the top level (what kind of library requires a freaking grappling hook?), so it is time to go grab some quality wheat.

See you later, Ark!

Back to the boat.

The Filgaia map is such a pain in the ass around these parts. We are that white dot way in the south. Technically, Boot Hill is at the top of the map, but is the bottom of the large central continent. It is confusing that the Filgaia globe was cut in this bizarre manner.

So, while it looks like a distance away, Boot Hill is actually pretty close.

Probably only have to fight one giant bug monster along the way.

See? The way I interpret maps, we just went from South America to the North Pole. It’s weird.

Really hyping up this wheat.

Gobs! We must be in the right place.

Maybe Virginia ran away from home just to escape carb city?

And here we are. This is our last “hometown” to visit for our party, so you know it is going to be interesting.

Next time on Wild Arms: Tesla breaks down.