Wild Arms 3 Part 57: Breaking In

Make sure you are not anywhere near Silent Hill, because today is June 5, Mist Day. Mist is scary, because there might be a mist spirit hiding somewhere. The dunes are scary, because there might be a sand spirit hiding somewhere. The sky is scary, because there might be an air spirit hiding somewhere. Come to think of it, there isn’t much point to a day just for mist when you’re scared of so many things.

Previously on Wild Arms 3: Maya has been kidnapped for so long at this point, I do not even remember what she looks like. The most recent debacle saw Virginia attempting to trade the Teardrop for Maya’s release, but that was an unbelievable failure, and now the bad guys have fled to somewhere nebulously “outside Laxisland”.

… And if this recap sounds familiar…. Uh… blame aliens.

Let’s actually find those ruins this time.

See? Nalice makes all the difference. That silly Telepath Tower was within walking distance, but the real dungeon is up on an airship-only plateau.

And you can’t tell me the villains are going to pass on a base called “Cradle of the Metal Gods”.

So if we radar around up here…

Let’s get this party started!

… Or not. Is this dungeon rejecting us?

You can’t put a forcefield around the next plot dungeon! That’s cheating!

So we cannot enter this cradle through the front door, and attempts to do so will prompt a message from Siegfried or one of the Prophets. Your leader determines which villain taunts your party.

Gallows gets a message from Malik… Or maybe Siegfried? I hear he used to have mommy issues…

So if we search around the area, there is a sign referencing a tunnel. That should work for bypassing a forcefield! Let’s get some more information from our pals at the Ark of Destiny…

The Teleport Orb is man’s greatest invention.

So there is this book on the Cradle of the Metal Gods and the Ark of Destiny constructed tunnel, Survey Point #08.

This only-accessible-through-grappling-hook tome gives us exact directions to SP08, but…

You must talk to Lamium about it, or the dungeon will never activate. Ask me how I know this.

The book mentions that the tunnel had to be buried for safety, so you must missile-away a boulder.

We’re going in!

A bit of warning: some people have had issues re-accessing this dungeon after completing the area. On two recent playthroughs, I didn’t have any problems, and it is clear this spot is supposed to always be accessible, but some players have reported glitches causing it to disappear. So point is collect any and all treasures the first time you’re here to avoid headaches.

Our first obstacle could be a major pain for the six people that didn’t find the Guardian Lords immediately.

It is unclear if The Ark of Destiny losers or the Prophet losers did this, but someone sealed this door with all sorts of talismans. The only way through this door is possession of all 12 guardian mediums. Given the first 8 mediums are mandatory, this basically just means you must complete the Guardian Lord “sidequests” before making any further plot progress.

Ultimately, this is a chance for Chapter 3, the section of Wild Arms 3 with the most freedom, to see the player merge back into a more “focused” path. … Does that make sense? You know what? I’ll make a chart…

(click for a more legible view)

There!

Everything in red is the main path of the plot.
Everything in yellow is optional at its first availability, but eventually intersects at an outlined point to rejoin the main path.
And anything in green is wholly optional for the rest of forever.

Now does that make sense?

Okay, on with the dungeon proper.

Every Dim Root Path needs monsters.

We’ve got unruly spirits…

And werewolves that are dressed like Tusken Raiders.

The Lyncathropes are jerks because they use spells that cut your HP by half. This is terrible at the start of a very long dungeon.

The Evil Dead mostly just smack you around.

There are also these harpy-looking things.

Guess they are named Anzu.

This spell increases the odds a status effect will work on your characters. I have never seen poison miss on my party anyway, but you do you.

And air attacks from the air monsters. Ho-hum.

2 dark rings! That is quite the valuable prize from a random encounter, though it is 100% random.

Alright, as you saw in the pre-fight screenshot, there’s a gap we cannot cross, so we must see what is down here in this gully.

Treasure! And weird blocks!

Ah-ha! Our last tool!

Changecrest is another Wild Arms staple, and is often one of the last tools you find. In Wild Arms 3, the Changecrest has a couple of purposes. First, it will transform orange crystals into orange blocks and vice versa. Get ready to see that a lot during this dungeon.

Orange crystals are blockified by the Changecrest, but white crystals become teleporters. Throw your changecrest at a white crystal, and you’re there.

Orange blocks have the same puzzle-properties as regular blocks, so they weigh down door switches.

And before we waddle through more tutorials, let’s check in with the bad guys.

At some point, Maya re-materialized her Calamity outfit, and is back to being her usual level of feisty. I choose to believe she manifested her default dress through sheer force of will.

I want a complete list of Japanese media that includes the “Deux Ex Machina” as an actual object on my desk by morning.

Maya is frustrated after being kidnapped, but exceptionally aghast at having all her hard work coopted by demons.

Malik, I don’t think anyone has actually discussed turning you back into humans. In fact, given Siegfried wants to turn the whole planet into a demon…

There is something about Maya’s little “at attention” head movement that works so perfectly.

Big talk about “beauty” from the woman gradually transforming into a buffalo. That was not a metaphor.

Back to the home team.

Looks like this dungeon has a lot of similar structures.

First, we’ll tear down this wall.

You can transform these blocks into crystals, or move them around with Clive’s Mighty Gloves.

And make a bridge! Yay!

You can either make a complete path, or place the blocks with gaps so Virginia can zoom across with her galecrest.

Treasure time!

Now we double back to simply bypass the wall and find this other passageway.

Challenge room!

Use multiple tools to claim victory.

Ah-ha. The most valuable treasure in the entire game is sitting right here where you practically can’t miss it.

Violator confers the skill Finest Arts. We have talked about it a little bit during the sidequest sections of this Let’s Play, and we’ll finally give it a focused look… after we finish this long-ass dungeon. Note that a handful of super bosses are all but impossible without this dinky little Violator.

For now, just remember that the Violator is a really easy to find treasure, and part of its mystique is that it doesn’t come with a manual.

Minor block puzzle.

You don’t have to use the Changecrest at all here. But if you do, that “generator” panel in the middle there will infinitely generate new orange crystals. It will never generate more crystals than there were in the room initially, so it is just there to guarantee you don’t “run out” of blocks.

Moving on.

Checking in on this thrilling dial-checking action.

“Oh yeah, forgot to formally have a conversation with our time traveling robot. Have you always had that girl under your arm?”

Leehalt makes the mistake of asking how Asgard made their way back to the present, and apparently the big bot had a whole speech prepared.

“It sucked a whole lot less than this crapsack.”

And then Asgard makes the mistake of comparing ancient Filgaia to a gem. Maya is interested in this!

Siegfried’s most consistent character trait is having contempt for everybody.

“That I am, but I am free to speak what I feel. That world was so peaceful and tranquil, and touching…It was the first time I felt a sense of love for the world…However, my duty is to protect my master. I devised a plan to return to the present world, and the result is history.”

Asgard is aspirational in how they don’t let the haters win.

Napping toward victory.

And, miraculously, it did work. Guess it fed on man’s natural tendency to not want to excavate freaky, horned creatures.

“Your old boss is a sniveling toad, so I’m your new boss.”

Leehalt doesn’t care about the change in management, but he does confirm with Asgard that the golem has information on this “not terrible all the time” version of Filgaia.

“Let’s put it up on the big screen! Malik! Acquire the popcorn!”

Meanwhile, we’re still trudging through a dungeon.

We’re past the tutorial puzzles, let’s have a formal exam.

I don’t know how to explain the solution to this puzzle. Basically, every block goes either immediately in the center, or to the next switch spot over from its adjacent switch spot. That make sense? I’m not making a chart this time.

If you mess up badly, you can use the Changecrest to make a “new” crystal/block from the generator. But you shouldn’t ever have to do that.

Another one of these rooms.

Before dealing with the minor puzzle, you can simply walk over to the nearby treasure room.

There had to be a trap somewhere.

Imitator-mimics are hardly a speedbump at this point.

Gallows doesn’t even have to whip out the good magic. Eat the wizardry of gunpowder (ARMpowder?).

That’s always worth it.

Also good! A gift for Clive’s daughter is marginally more important than avoiding random encounters.

This time, you must remember that Virginia has a Galecrest, and build a bridge accordingly.

Simple lesson in how teleporting and “throwing” apparently works through a fence.

I’m… not certain this ever comes up again.

We done yet?

How is the plot going elsewhere?

“We really gunked this thing up.”

Asgard sitting back here, getting praise, expecting a promotion that is never going to come…

Whoops, red alert.

Is that us? It’s probably us.

“My wish is to transform this planet into a giant life-form conglomerate. It shall act as an interstellar ship as well as an ecosystem to breed and raise demons. I shall call it…Starship Filgaia! With this, I shall head to new frontiers and quench my thirst for battle!”

Yeah, big whoop. Walt Disney had the exact same plan for Epcot.

“Dispatch War Rocket Filgaia, to bring back his body!”

Look, you don’t have to teleport away to find the intruders, but you do have to look busy.

“Lousy Prophets, not installing a teleporter in ol’ Asgard… Can’t even buy a frassin’ cage for our captive…”

Back to work.

So this room is very similar to the last Violator room…

But you need one extra tool to clear the gap.

Then you zoom across the footholds to hit a block you have already pre-solidified.

Move said block above the obvious wall switch…

And bounce a boomerang off the block to fall and activate the switch. Hey! Every party member got to use a tool in this room! Synergy!

Puzzle-puzzle time.

So the trick to this room is that you must collect all the gems at once before they are respawned by their spawning tiles. You will not be able to run around the perimeter and collect them all fast enough in their current locations.

So you must block-ify all the crystals…

Move them close to each other…

And gem-ify them back to catch ‘em all in one movement.

Easy peasy. The door stays open once you solve the puzzle, so you don’t have to worry about dashing through a closing passage. That comes…

Now. This hallway is technically safe and boring…

But once you reach this door…

Cutscene time!

Wee-o Wee-o.

“Did everybody… Oh yeah… We’re already here.”

“But still! Don’t get your hands caught in the closing doors! Or… something?”

They couldn’t possibly be monitoring the only other way into their base after we kept poking at their forcefield earlier.

“Probably just some poor door-to-door salesman being executed.”

Because there are so many tactical advantages to just staying in this hallway forever.

It’s… right there.

That was, like, eight steps. I counted.

But what is on the other side of that door? And who actually triggered the alarm? Find out next update!

Next time on Wild Arms: It was the cat.