Like mighty Atlas, I shoulder this Let’s Play on December 12, Plant Watering Day. It’s days like this that get people to water their plants, like my father who never waters his, and ends up rotting their roots. Whoever established this day must have hated plants…
Previously on Wild Arms 3: Asgard was sent to another time/place/dimension/whatever. With Filgaia’s least favorite/only robot out of the way, Janus taunted the team and invited them to join him at Yggdrasil. Guess we have to get on that!
So we’re at Baskar Colony right now, chiefly because it has a free inn.
Now we are supposed to find “Nidhogg”, and make our way to Yggdrasil. As you can see, there is a whole lot of unexplored world out there, and Nidhogg could be practically anywhere.
However, there have been books and NPCs that talked about two giants that went to fight Nidhogg, and there has also been mention of two different giant statues out in the world. Let’s look into that.
We already found one statue while we were on our way to Infinitum.
It was on an inconspicuous island that we had to pass, so it would be harder to not notice that statue.
Boot Hill had a population that was particularly chatty about Nidhogg, so let’s head back home.
I seem to remember…
Yes, this guy. To the cape!
Right past the station…
This looks good.
Sweet.
Welp, there’s our answer. Looks like we are heading way the heck north.
Going to be a long trip….
Roadtrip! Or… Sandtrip!
Sometimes I forget how this map works… So one Nidhogg Pass entrance is practically a stone’s throw away from Boot Hill, as its associated beach is accessible from the outer sea (“sea”).
See that white dot in the top left? This is about how we traveled.
Pokémon-ass looking plants in these parts. Or maybe Monster Rancher…
Hey, it’s a teeny, tiny forest. Big trees usually do have smaller trees around them…
Hooray! We found Nidhogg Pass.
Please enjoy the Wild Arms 3 save icon as a placeholder for your character when hiding in a forest.
Nidhogg Pass! I wonder if the whole Nidhogg thing is a metaphor or…
Hm?
Ah. Literal. Starting off this dungeon with a fight with Nidhogg.
Does this mean those statues were literally made in the image of two dudes that got eaten by this thing?
Nidhogg is weak to light and dark (one would assume due to its dual nature). Unfortunately, at this point in Wild Arms 3, it is impossible to have an actual dark-based spell…
Nidhogg is one of those fights that is either going to go easy or hard depending on how your party resists status effects. Niddy loves confusing your buds.
And stomping around like he owns the place.
The other big status effect is downhearted, which will limit a character’s FP options while they feel ways about stuff. This can be quite annoying if it nails one of your healers.
Other than that, Nidhogg isn’t all that difficult, and the fact that you can easily scoot out of the dungeon and level up/heal means you are unlikely to even remember this hydra exists in a few minutes.
Just have Gallows or Virginia use light magic, and everybody else can fill it full of lead.
See ya.
Now! Back to Nidhogg Pass.
This is… a cave. A lot of rocks around? Some water? I’m sure you have heard of these things.
A switch on a lowerlevel means banking the ol’ boomerang around.
Never get tired of hitting switches.
Dum de dum.
There are treasure chests all over this dungeon. Guess this is where the Prophets stow their stash.
And their skeletons.
The skeleton army is not friendly to the living.
Just blast the undead with light magic the minute they appear.
And move along.
Oh! This looks neat.
First we will hit that duplicator door, which contains treasure that may or may not try to kill you.
Three mimics. Remember when these things were threatening?
… Maybe the fact that our reward is a tiny flower is Wild Arms 3’s way of agreeing mimics are no longer relevant.
Back to the puzzle at hand: stand at different levels on these stairs, and light all the torches.
Pretty easy if you have the tiniest concept of depth perception.
And we reach a giant wall next to a switch.
As is good and proper, the switch lowers the wall.
But leads us to a dead end. There are some nice gems here, but we cannot seem to make any further progress.
A locked door, one panel alit, one panel dark.
Do you suppose…
Yep! All that talk of “twin” giants and nidhoggs was a clue to the gimmick of this dungeon: to complete this area, you must conquer two dungeons.
And, yes, whichever dungeon you do first, you have to walk backwards out of the place like a sucker. Puzzles all remain solved, but enjoy those random encounters.
Ah, these jerks.
In one universe, my Level 100 party has ridiculous evasion. Over in the “real” playthrough, Amduscias has an instant death attack that can be a real pain. You just earned an instant death-resistant ability from the last Guardian… but that only protects one character.
Apparently these wannabe unicorns are steel-type thanks to their armor, so immediately immolate on sight.
And for our third beastie of the area, we’ve got a lizard.
Welcome to the ice age, dinosaur.
Since you must leave to start the other dungeon, it is a good idea to rest and heal your VIT back at an inn. This is particularly true if someone got dead’ed by a reverse centaur.
Also, if I may play at being a FAQ for a moment, before hitting Nidhogg Pass #2, you are absolutely going to want to stop at a shop to pick up some status remedies. Cures for poison and confusion are a good idea. Oh! And hit your garden to grab as many heal berries as possible. Once Part 2 gets underway, returning to the world at large becomes a little more difficult…
You can just about see Nidhogg Pass #2 from #1. It’s that green area across the canyon.
Unfortunately, you cannot get there without heading back to the boat.
Pass #2 is only accessible by sailing around the inner section of that circular area in the northeast of the map. It makes for a much longer trip (though you can easily land at Baskar if you need to refuel).
You will know you are in the right place when you start seeing the same monsters again.
Here we are. Once again, that green area on the horizon is where we just were for one dungeon…
And now it is time for part 2.
It is technically the same dungeon, so we get the same name related to that thing we killed forever.
Or…
Maybe not.
There are two Nidhoggs. They are both exactly the same, and equally ineffectual.
In Norse mythology, it is the Níðhöggr dragon that gnaws at the roots of the World Tree Yggdrasil. This is an appropriate leadup to the Yggdrasil base that has been teased for the last few hours of the game. Though the fact that we do not get to see the divine squirrel Ratatoskr is disappointing…
Niddy has got some junk in the trunk.
Anywho, exact same fight, except now we know precisely what to expect. Nothing to write home about.
There! The last Nidhogg is in Niflheim, the galaxy is at peace.
Now for some dungeoning.
I think the Prophets learned to teleport entirely to avoid this musty cave commute.
It is not in great shape.
See? Falling apart.
You have to use the sneak command to make it across this bridge… though you will want to fall a little to find a “hidden” duplicator door.
Always good to find one of those. Also conveniently near the entrance if you lose track of it and need to come back later.
And a book for Clive’s daughter! Book 4 of 11 is probably where the story gets going.
Exactly same monsters across both dungeons.
The treasure room deposits us right past the bridge, though you will have to double back if you want that one treasure chest over the lake.
And we need all the treasure we can get.
Come to Gallows.
Now we can leave.
This side gets a little more “industrial” toward the end.
Remember Clive’s power gloves? You’re going to need to.
Bridges are made from blocks.
And that’s that. Another switch for another movable door.
And now that both sides have been conquered, the large, middle door finally opens.
And guess what! There is even more dungeon ahead! This was just the prelude to the real Nidhogg Pass! So let’s save that for next time. I can only dungeon so hard for so long…
Next time on Wild Arms: We finally murder the most hated character in the game.